A Christmas TaleMovie Reviews

Poster art for "A Christmas Tale."

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Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    The movie is enchanting. Read full review

  • 100
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    What results is a captivating portrait of the most gorgeously fractious dysfunctional family. Read full review

  • 100
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    A movie that is almost indecently satisfying and at the same time elusive, at once intellectually lofty -- marked by allusions to Emerson, Shakespeare and Seamus Heaney as well as Nietzsche -- and as earthy as the passionate provincial family that is its heart and cosmos and reason for being. Read full review

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Dark secrets are unlocked, words draw more blood than punches, and Desplechin turns one family into a universe that resembles life as a startling work of art. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    For long stretches A Christmas Tale seems to be going nowhere in particular and using a lot of dialogue to do so. These are not boring stretches. The movie is 151 minutes long and doesn't feel especially lengthy. The actors are individually good. They work together to feel like a family. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    Even though it's pretentious and overlong, A Christmas Tale is still maddeningly engaging, thanks in large part to its attractive and gifted cast. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    With Desplechin, it doesn't ever feel as though he's straining to show us things. It's more like we're just hanging out. We're in this house, and by some strange coincidence, every time we turn around, something interesting is happening. Read full review

  • 75
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    If feuds, drunken outbursts and thoughtless bed-hopping sound like fun, then A Christmas Tale is a hoot. Some wry humor runs through the course of the overly long saga. But there's not enough dark wit to mitigate the tedium and pretentiousness. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter |

    Despite the name recognition of such actors as Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric, foreign audiences might be deterred by the movie's 143-minute length and the profusion of characters and interwoven story lines. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Derek Elley

    Largely thanks to the snappy editing, short scenes and a strong cast led by a matronly Deveuve and Amalric's enjoyable perf as the black sheep of the family, A Christmas Tale never devolves into a tedious two-and-a-half hours of self-examination. But it also never goes very far, either. Read full review

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

5.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

...sprawling, complex Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

A Christmas Tale Movie Ratings + Reviews

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So-so 78 fan reviews

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