A defeated family party2 reading minutes

In Cédric Kahn's new film, currently in theaters, Catherine Deneuve plays a grandmother who wants to celebrate her birthday surrounded by all her nearest and dearest. But that's without counting on the fact that family is hell, as someone else might have said.

In an interview published in our columns a year ago, French filmmaker Franck Ribière.., producer of The world's most murdered woman, The French film industry's biggest mistake was the Nouvelle Vague, and its second biggest mistake is to stay with it. It's true that there are countless French auteur films that are boredom-inducing for the viewer and intellectual masturbation for the director. But not all these films are mediocre; some are even excellent. Case in point Family celebrations, released in French-speaking Switzerland today, is anything but a turnip.

Rising tension

«Today is my birthday and I'd like us to talk only about happy things», says Andréa (Catherine Deneuve, truer than ever) a quarter of the way through the film. Up to that point, the plot had settled as best it could, the cinematography had shown nothing original, and the dialogue was banal. In short, the audience feared the worst. But this sentence falls so perfectly into the film that, voila, here we are; these characters, here we are, we believe in them. And we hope with all our might that this touching grandmother's plea will be heard.

The tension builds right up to the end of the film, fading with a few rare exceptions to make way for more comic moments. But Family celebrations is first and foremost a drama, the object of which is the defeat of a family, its buried secrets, its protruding wounds. And this lack of understanding of others, who elude us more and more as we get to know them better. Just like love. Love is at the heart of this fine, intelligent and serious film, with its pared-down soundtrack featuring the jewel of song L'amour l'amour l'amour by Mouloudji. The very same «always talked about».

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

You've just read an open-access article. Debates, analysis, cultural news: subscribe to support us and get access to all our content!