A Christmas Tale

Co-written with Emmanuel Bourdieu and directed by Arnaud Desplechin, this 2008 French comedy-drama centers on the Vuillard clan, whose members reunite at the parental home in Roubaix for the Christmas holidays. The occasion turns somber when the family learns that the mother, Junon (Catherine Deneuve), is suffering from leukemia and will survive only if a bone-marrow transplant can be carried out, prompting her far-flung children to return home.

Joining Junon and her husband Abel are their daughter Elizabeth and her psychologically fragile teenage son Paul, the son Henri, who was cast out six years earlier after his sister settled his debts, the youngest brother Ivan and his wife Sylvia, and the cousin Simon. While relatives undergo tests to find a matching donor, buried resentments, rivalries and surprising new bonds emerge. The picture competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2008, collected nine César nominations and brought Jean-Paul Roussillon the award for best supporting actor.