01
A Christmas Tale
Why this pick
Its expansive family chronicle similarly lets decades of resentment, desire and obligation accumulate, balancing intellectual distance with vivid, emotionally volatile performances.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE2000 3h 0m FRA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Sentimental Destinies
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
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Why this pick
A poised, novelistic ensemble study of young adults making romantic and professional choices, with the same interest in shifting attachments and social rituals over plot mechanics.
03
Summer Hours
Why this pick
Assayas again observes family, inheritance and cultural change with graceful ellipsis; its calm surface makes the characters’ diverging lives and unspoken losses feel especially resonant.
04
My Golden Days
Why this pick
A richly literary, time-spanning account of formative love and memory, shaped by emotional contradiction, agile narration and close attention to how the past persists.
05
The Souvenir
Why this pick
Its cool, precise observation of a young woman’s consuming relationship shares Assayas’s trust in ellipsis, ambiguity and the emotional force of social and domestic detail.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Based on the novel of the same name by Jacques Chardonne, the film is set in the early 20th century. The story covers thirty years in the life of Jean, a Protestant minister who leaves his wife (Isabelle Huppert) for Pauline (Emmanuelle Béart), the niece of one of his parishioners. Abandoning his career in the church, he sets up home with her in Switzerland. Following the death of an uncle he moves to Limoges, where he takes over the running of the family porcelain factory.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Charles Berling
Jean Barnery
Emmanuelle Béart
Pauline Pommerel
Isabelle Huppert
Nathalie Barnery
Olivier Perrier
Philippe Pommerel, producteur de cognac, oncle de Pauline
Dominique Reymond
Julie Desca
André Marcon
Paul Desca
Alexandra London
Louise Desca
Julie Depardieu
Marcelle