“B” Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

Why is it that so many Americans delight in making fun of the French? They clearly have better wine, not to mention food. And they are not nearly as neurotic when it comes to sexuality, which is wonderfully refreshing in and of itself.

Sure, I know that we had to save them in both World Wars of the Twentieth Century, but so what? If it hadn’t been for their navy at Yorktown in 1783, we would still be singing “God Save the Queen” before all of our athletic events.

Having now seen Arnaud Desplechin’s “A Christmas Tale,” it is also evident that the French trump us on making holiday movies about dysfunctional families. Sure it suffers from being far too long at close to 2 hours and 30 minutes, but this is a movie about real people, not the cardboard stereotypes churned out by Hollywood.

For anyone who disagrees, think about the following: “Christmas with the Kranks” (2004); “Deck the Halls” (2006); “Unaccompanied Minors” (2006) and this year’s “Four Christmases.” The best you can say about any of them is that they had some funny moments, but that is faint praise coming from the desperate.

“A Christmas Tale,” on the other hand, involves family conflicts that strike deep into the heart. A fractured family of adult siblings reunites to see if anyone is suitable for a risky bone marrow transplant for their cancer stricken mother. Life is kicking them all in the teeth on some level, and they have largely been alienated from each other for a long time.

The legendary Catherine Deneuve plays the ill mother, and she remains regally gorgeous. She greets her brood of misfits with a sense of benign whimsy, which includes a golden moment when she informs a self-abusive prodigal son that she has never liked him since he was a child!

Also standing out as her husband is Jean-Paul Roussillon. His tender affection and devotion to his wife is enormously moving in its understated way. Portly and well past his prime, his loving commitment to his troubled family is both selfless and heartwarming.

But alas, we Americans are stuck with Vince Vaughn being thrown at us at the end of every year. Yet even though we know what feckless entertainment awaits, we buy tickets anyway, only to insure another round of juvenile suffering at the end of 2009. Everyone ready for “Fred Claus II?” How about “Five Christmases?”

So if subtitles are not your cup of tea, then go rent “Home for the Holidays” (1995) or “Pieces of April” (2003). Celebrate the holidays with actors like Holly Hunter, Robert Downey, Jr., Anne Bancroft, Oliver Platt and Patricia Clarkson. Watch some movies with some genuine emotional depth and moral ambiguity.

Happy New Year, everyone.