I will concentrate on the wonderful cast of actors in this warm witty family comedy-drama. Sabine Azema plays a 42 year old woman who sings at a Russian restaurant/club - she's pregnant with her married lover's child. She's the eldest city and the most flamboyant. Emmanuelle Beart is the middle child, with the most money, a husband and children. She's the one who organizes events. The youngest sister is Charlotte Gainsbourg, who won a Cesar for her role in this movie - she's tough, neurotic, selfish, and fascinating. They learn they have a half-brother, played by co-screenwriter and son of the female director, Christopher Thompson. He's a wonderful actor as well as a terrific writer. he plays a sullen depressed man coping with the end of his marriage to the neurotic Annabelle, played by an unrecognizable Isabelle Carre. Claude Rich plays their father in a flamboyant dashing performance. Francoise Fabian plays the girl's mother. I just love french movie stars, because they take risks, and will play both leads and supporting roles in their long and varied careers.The music is wonderful. The direction - by Daniele Thompson - one of my favorite under-rated French directors (Avenue Montaigne is probably my favorite of her films)is first-rate. Just saw it again for a third time on TV5MONDE! (: Wonderful!

Saw "La Buche" last night. It's somewhat dull but pleasant and well-acted throughout. I enjoy the French tendency to feature artists and philosophically inclined persons as cinematic main characters (while we Americans get cops and the pugilistically inclined), and "La Buche" rewards on that level: the characters are lovely, intelligent, articulate and well dressed.Underneath the surface trappings, however, the movie doesn't have much to say. It's a tribute to emotional cowardice dolled up as a celebration of familial devotion - all in the guise of a Christmas movie. Which would be genuinely funny if "La Buche" were at all cynical about its own motives. As far as I could tell, it isn't. I gather that we're supposed to buy bad decision-making redeemed by absurd coincidence as evidence that true love will out in the end.P.S. I am beyond tired of the suggestion in French films that infidelity is the one true badge of masculine identity. Didn't this idea become boring in, oh, like, 1965?

I saw this film and The Royal Tenenbaums in the course of the same week. The themes were very similar (a coincidence?), but La Buche was more interesting, more believable and more enjoyable. I cared about the characters. Gene Hackman's brood were cardboard cutouts. And La Buche didn't need the Hollywood formulaic 500 milliseconds of exposed breast to earn its adult status.

Anyone expecting a bright clever and fresh comedy here will be seriously disappointed. This is french cinema at its worst : boring (and soooo predictable) plot, unimaginative direction, overwritten dialogue and a bunch of brilliant actors unable to make us believe in their characters (with the notable exceptions of Claude Risch and Charlotte Gainsbourg). Some entertaining moments won't disguise the fact that this is a huge disappointment... Too bad really.