A Tale of Winter is not the typical Christmas film where everybody loves each other, illusion is all around and all the people is kind and generous. Ok, there is love and illusion, but in a small dose. There are also hard moments, loneliness and indecision. Just like real life.
Felicie lives in Paris with her mother and her little daughter and spends her life in a love dilemma: Maxence (a hard-working hairdresser) and Loic (an intellectual librarian). She is doubtful and whimsical and there is a reason for it: she is still in love with Charles, the father of her daughter. They met each other some years ago and lived a whirlwind and lovely summer affaire. The fruit of this short but intense romance is the daughter they have in common, which Charles does not know (he even does not know that she exists). Felicie lives obsessed with the idea that one day he will come back or she will bump into him in the streets. She cannot love other men. She cannot even enjoy her life because all her thoughts hang around him so she is unable to commit to any of her suitors. And the worst of all is that her changeable character doest not only hurt herself but the rest of the people that are around her.
Five years after in Paris, during Christmas time, she encounters Charles in the bus. And after that day, everything will change. Directed in 19 by Éric Rhomer, one of the precursors of the “Nouvelle Vague” (“New Age”).
Sometimes it is pleasant to run away from all of these sweetened Christmas productions and come back to reality with movies like this one: a human and philosophical reflection about love, life and relationships.
If you want to know further about the film: “A Tale of Winter”.
