Twenty-four years after Catherine Deneuve was featured in a film about holiday murder (also featured on this list), she starred in another movie about an only slightly less dysfunctional family getting together to celebrate Christmas. Clearly she has some unresolved issues she's trying to work through. It's the story of a family matriarch with leukemia (played by Deneuve, at this point in her late 60s) whose children and grandchildren gather at her home for the holidays...but also to see if any of the family members could be bone marrow donors, which is obviously appropriately cheery for the season. There's something about everyone being together under one roof that really brings out all the tension that normally simmers unhealthily but harmlessly underneath the surface. This is a good one to watch when you need to feel validated that at least your family isn't this crazy and dramatic -- and that's always end game when you're trapped in one house with the people who have spent their entire lives learning how to push your buttons, right?
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
