''Season's Beatings'' (french: La Bûche) is a French comedy-drama film directed by

Danièle Thompson Danièle Thompson (born 3 January 1942) is a Monegasque film director and screenwriter. Thompson is the daughter of film director Gérard Oury, and actress Jacqueline Roman. She has written screenplays for a number of highly successful films i ...

, released in 1999.

Plot

Following the recent death of her second husband, for Christmas, Yvette tries to meet the three daughters from her first marriage with Stanislas, the gypsy violinist, again. During the preparations, questions and revelations are well underway from Louba, the artist, Sonia, the middle child and Milla, the rebel. Yvette and Stanislas' daughters dreaded celebrating Christmas festivities because it coincides with the couple's 25th wedding anniversary. Ever since Yvette's divorce from Stanislas, and her remarriage, the siblings have had a strained relationship with their mother. Yvette and her daughters had an emotional reunion and reconciliation following the tragedy that took the life of her second husband.

Cast

Sabine Azéma Sabine Azéma (born 20 September 1949) is a French stage and film actress and director. Born in Paris, she graduated from the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. Career Her film career began in 1975. Azéma appeared in '' A Sunday in the ...

as Louba *

Emmanuelle Béart Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...

as Sonia *

Charlotte Gainsbourg Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (; born 21 July 1971) is a British-French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song " Lemo ...

as Milla *

Claude Rich Claude Rich (8 February 1929 – 20 July 2017) was a French stage and screen actor. He began his career in the theater before his film debut in 1955. Personal life He married actress Catherine Renaudin on 26 June 1959. They had two daughters, ...

as Stanislas *

Françoise Fabian Michèle Cortes (born 10 May 1933), known professionally as Françoise Fabian (), is a French film actress. She has appeared in more than 100 films since 1956. In 1971, Fabian signed the Manifesto of the 343, publicly declaring having had an ab ...

as Yvette *

Jean-Pierre Darroussin Jean-Pierre Darroussin (born 4 December 1953) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was born in Courbevoie, France. Theater Filmography Actor *1992: ''Riens du tout'' (directed by Cédric Klapisch starring Fabrice Luchini, Daniel Berlioux) ...

as Gilbert *

Isabelle Carré Isabelle Carré (born 28 May 1971) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 70 films since 1989. She won a César Award for Best Actress for her role in '' Se souvenir des belles choses'' (2001), and has been nominated a further six ti ...

as Annabelle * Samuel Labarthe as Pierre *

Françoise Brion Françoise Brion (; born 29 January 1933) is a French film actress. She has appeared in 75 films since 1957. She starred in the 1963 film ''L'Immortelle'', which was entered into the 13th Berlin International Film Festival. She was married to Ja ...

as Janine * Christopher Thompson as Joseph *

Hélène Fillières Hélène Fillières (born 1 May 1972) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter. She is the sister of filmmaker Sophie Fillières Sophie Fillières (born 20 November 1964) is a French film director and screenwriter who has written fo ...

as Véronique *

Marie de Villepin Marie Galouzeau de Villepin (born 8 May 1986) is a French artist, model, actress and singer. The daughter of former Prime Minister and diplomat Dominique de Villepin, she spent most of her childhood in India before moving to various countries in ...

as Marie

Critical response

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links