One of the standout hits of the Cannes, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals, A CHRISTMAS TALE is Arnaud Desplechin's (KINGS AND QUEEN) dazzling, big-hearted and brilliantly black comedy. In the role that garnered her the Special Prize at Cannes, Catherine Deneuve us Junon, the family matriarch, who greets the news of her life-threatening illness with calm equanimity. Desplechin regular Mathieu Amalric gives one of the best performances of the year as the black sheep of the family who returns home after being banished for 6 years with his bemused Jewish girlfriend (Emmanuel Devos) in tow. Crowded under the same roof again, solidarity quickly - and hilariously - devolves into feuding, drunkenness and bed-hopping, as everyone struggles to make sense of the mysteries of family, life, and what lies ahead. Desplechin's masterful narrative has the breadth of a sprawling novel and the nimble wordplay of a classic comedy, while packing the full sensory wallop of pure cinema.