Ma Saison Préférée

Here is Gallic star power saving a standard domestic drama from mediocrity. Emilie (Deneuve) is a notary public in a small town in south-west France, her younger brother Antoine (Auteuil) a top Toulouse neurologist, while their widowed mother Berthe (Villalonga) lives alone, causing both offspring no little concern. Their ongoing confrontation over care plans for the old girl reveals the emptiness in their own personal lives. The performances bring these emotional entanglements to vivid, awkward life: Auteuil, as in Un Coeur en Hiver, manages to warm our sympathy for a fundamentally detached, even dislikeable character; and Deneuve glides elegantly through another two hours of screen time desired by all, but incapable of love herself. Before you know it you're affected.