Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

noralee How charming to walk from Christmas-decorated 5th Avenue into the Paris Theater on 58th St. to see Christmas-decorated Paris in "La Bûche" with its soundtrack of American Christmas standards. I've been told the title refers to the Yule Log, as in "La Bûche de Noel," but evidently everyone but me just knows this and it's never mentioned, let alone translated in the movie. It's a very French, very laugh-out loud funny "Hannah and Her Sisters" or a French Christmas take on the Thanksgiving in "What's Cooking." Characters speak to the camera to explain the back story on the intertwined family of ex's and affairs and siblings and step-parents, adult children, aging parents (with lives! how very not Hollywood!) and babies. Characters learn about each other, some change their minds and attitudes based on that information, some don't, and family dysfunction continues with not Hollywood endings, but rather endings that make sense for each character's sanity, so are more like real life than Hollywood. Any re-make will take away all the messy charm and focus on the Christmas Eve dinner which unpredictably here turns into an anti-climax. This is a delight, as the blurbs would say, but with a warning that it is a chick flick --the men are secondary, though quite rounded and not unsympathetic characters. Stay for the long cute joke in the credits, but I had to infer it because it wasn't translated, so I couldn't tell how satirical it was.(originally written 12/3/2000)

jotix100 Danielle Thompson has written a lot for the cinema. Some of her best efforts have been "La Reine Margot", "Le cerveau", and "Cousin, cousine", among others. Ms. Thompson, whose first directorial job this is, wanted, perhaps, to give her public a good dramatic comedy when she undertook this project. The results are somewhat pleasing.The story centers about three sisters that are as different from one another as they are from their mother. Louba, Sonia and Milla have gone to have their own lives, but when they are reunited on December 20th, just before Christmas, they show they care for one another in more ways than we realize.Sabina Azema, Emmanuelle Beart and Charlotte Gainsbourg play the three siblings with style. The lovely Francoise Fabian is seen as their mother. Also in the cast, Claude Rich and the director's son, Christopher Thompson.Ms. Thompson gives us a different take on Christmas, something we don't often see on the screen.

tprofumo Every year, American TV serves up so-called holiday fare, meaning made-for-TV movies about Brady Bunch-like families getting together for Christmas. Most are so forgettable that they get thrown out faster than used Christmas wrapping.The French are in general much better at dealing on film with human relationships and the complexities of modern families and so I guess it should come as no surprise that they put together a far more engrossing story of a Christmas gathering.Daniele Thompson's "La Buche" delves into the complex relationships in one family which is just days away form Christmas when the stepfather dies. The film opens humorously at his funeral, which for some is a time of mourning and for others,just a great, big inconvenience.There are three intriguing daughters in this family and all of them lead complex lives, propelled along by the same thing that propels most French films -- love. The oldest daughter, played by Sabine Azema, is a 42-year old singer in a Russian cabaret who has been having an affair for 12 years with a married man. The middle sister, Emmanuelle Beart, is the woman who appears to have everything: beauty, wealth, husband, kids and the kind of controlling personality that keeps them all dancing to her tune. The youngest sister, Charlotte Gainsberg, is a vaguely rebellious young, motorcycle riding loner who has no man of her own, but would like one. Then there's their real father, Claude Riche, a guy who apparently during his active years bedded more women than Magic Johnson.American holiday movies usually include some family members in crisis and a lot of family members sharing recriminations about past transgressions. "La Buche" serves up its share of both, but with a French twist. Everyone in this family has their share of sins to confess and forgiveness to seek and in some cases, even monumental decisions to face. But they all seem to do it not only with style and grace, but with a lot of humor thrown in for good measure. If this holiday film has a message, it seems to be that you can make the best of any situation if you try hard enough.The acting and directing here are first rate and the characters, especially the three daughters, are so intriguing you almost don't want the film to end. You want to find out how all three daughters handle the changes coming to their lives.That's probably the best thing you can say about any film and hats off to director Thompson for making it so with "La Buche."

sharkfinsoup I really liked this movie...more what a real family goes through getting together for Christmas than many screen depictions, complete with breakups, family secrets and skeletons. Maybe you won't like this if you don't like to go to the movies that feature disappointment and bitterness. But it's leavened with some very funny stuff, too, just like real life. Interesting, because Daniele Thompson, who directed, wrote this with her son Christopher.The American Christmas carols on the soundtrack are a little nauseating...I hear too much of them in department stores...but it is a reflection of the Americanization of France and this holiday.The acting is well-done. I especially liked Claude Rich as the father and Charlotte Gainesbourg as the youngest daughter. I generally love Emmanuelle Beart, who plays the most Martha Stewart-like of the 3 sisters, but she has a probably the smallest role here.