My Favorite Season
Encyclopedia
My Favorite Season is a 1993 French drama film directed by André Téchiné
and starring Catherine Deneuve
, Daniel Auteuil
and Marthe Villalonga
. The story concerns two middle age siblings, a brother and sister, who resume their fragile relationship when they are forced to care for their ailing mother. It won the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1996 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
.
. She sits by the swimming pool in the middle of the night talking to herself and finds the house pretentious. Worried about her mother physical and mental health, Émilie pays a visit to her unmarried younger brother, Antoine, a neurosurgeon. They have no seen each other for three years, since they quarreled at their father’s funeral. Émilie informs Antoine of their mother condition and invites him to a Christmas dinner with the entire family.
On Christmas Eve, Antoine arrives to her sister's home when Émilie, Bruno and their daughter are leaving to midnight mass. The neurotic, Antoine has to remind himself not to be carried away and spoil the evening. As he wanders though the house looking for his mother, Antoine surprises his nephew Lucien, who works at a night club in town, making out with Khadija, Émilie and Bruno’s uninhibited Moroccan secretary who has been invited to spend Christmas with the family. Antoine promises not to tell anything. When he finds his mother's room, Berthe is delighted to see her son, but complains about living with her daughter. She dislikes Bruno, has no affection for the grandchildren and does not value her daughter’s efforts to make her feel at ease. Dinner is lively, but after the youngsters leave for Lucien’s room, tempers flares between Bruno and Antoine and they end up in a fist fight. Bruno becomes angry; Antoine leaves with a bleeding nose and Berthe departs with her son. Talking later with Bruno, Émilie loathes what they have become. Anne is distraught with the family's dispute and looks for Khadija's company.
Berthe returns to live alone in her farm but she suffers a struck. This forces Émilie to visit her brother once again. Antoine has moved to a small apartment in Toulouse
. He is glad to learn that Émilie has separated from Bruno. The siblings agree to place their mother in a nursing home as the only viable option. They pick up Berthe and on their way they remember old times. When Émilie and Antoine sing as they used to when they were children, Berthe cheers up. On a stop during the trip, Antoine fulfills a childhood dream and goes skinny dipping in a river. Berthe introduces her children to the director of the retirement home. She took good care of her children and they are now two very successful professionals who are too busy to take care of her, she says bitterly. Pressured by her brother, Émilie spends a night at Antoine’s apartment. He gives her a pill to help her sleep and joins Khadija and Anne at the bar where Lucien works. Anne has now given up her law studies and works in a music shop. Lucien and Khadija have a rocky relationship. Antonie tries to rekindle the childhood closeness that he enjoyed with his sister.
When Antoine and Émilie visit their mother at the retirement home, Berthe’s physical and mental health has visibly deteriorated. She wished she would have had a third child because that child would have taken care of her. Émilie and Antoine remove their mother from the nursing home. An exam at the hospital where Antoine works confirms their suspicion, Berthe is in her final decline. Émilie moves back to her house at Blagnac. Antoine breaks into the house to talk to her, and they have an argument. They recriminate each other about their behavior towards their sick mother. Feeling guilty, Antoine makes a halfhearted attempt to commit suicide. He jumps from the balcony of his apartment breaking a leg. Berthe dies alone at the hospital. After the funeral, Antoine, Émilie, Bruno, Lucien, Anne and Khadija meet at the house in Blagnac and have breakfast outdoors. During the conversation Anne asks the others which is their favorite season since she does not have one. At Antoine’s departure Émilie recites a poem which she learned as a song when she was a child. She used to sing that song while waiting at school for the holidays and be reunited with Antoine.
's crime drama L'Agression (Act of Aggression) (1975) and Claude Lelouch's Us Two (À nous deux) (1979 ). In smaller roles: Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcelo Mastroianni, and Carmen Chaplin, a grand daughter of Charlie Chaplin
, made their film debut. Principal shooting took place in the southern French city of Toulouse
and in the department of Haute-Garonne
.
. With 1.1 million tickets sold, it remains Téchiné’s biggest box office success in France. The film was initially unable to acquire an American distributor and was released in the United States only three years later, following the modest art-house success of Téchiné’s subsequent effort, Wild Reeds. It made $760,865 at the American box office, a respectable amount for a foreign language art film.
The film received generally good reviews. It is widely considered, with Wild Reeds and Thieves
, among Téchiné's best films. Review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes
reports that 92% of 12 critics gave the film a positive review.
Roger Ebert
from the Chicago Sun-Times called My Favorite season "One of those intriguing films that functions without a plot, and uses instead an intense curiosity about its characters". In her review for the New York Times
Janet Maslin
commented that the film "finds the director probing believable troubles with honesty, intelligence and tact...Téchiné echoes the emotional fearlessness of a Bergman
or Cassavetes
in trying to capture the difficult, unruly essence of his characters' inner lives." She called the film an "intense, moving story of loss and renewal". Online film critic, James Berardinelli
praised the film commenting that "For those who enjoy rich, complex character dramas, the arrival of My Favorite Season is a cause for celebration. Edward Gutmann from the San Francisco Chronicle praised the look of the film. Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly
called My favorite season " a mature and pensive film". While in a disagreeing note Todd McCarthy in Variety
found the exposition of the plot " dull".
André Téchiné
André Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....
and starring Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
, Daniel Auteuil
Daniel Auteuil
Daniel Auteuil is a French film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Algiers, French Algeria.-Career:...
and Marthe Villalonga
Marthe Villalonga
Marthe Villalonga , is a French actress. She has appeared in 93 films between 1963 and 2008.She was born in Fort-de-l'Eau, Algeria.-External links:...
. The story concerns two middle age siblings, a brother and sister, who resume their fragile relationship when they are forced to care for their ailing mother. It won the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1996 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 1996
The 17th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards honored the best filmmaking of 1996. The awards were given on 13 December 1996.-Winners:*Best Film:**Trainspotting*Best Actor:**Geoffrey Rush – Shine*Best Actress:...
.
Plot
Berthe, an elderly widow, is forced by her declining health to close the French farmhouse where she has spent much of her life. She moves in with her daughter Émilie and son in law Bruno who share a legal practice and have two grown up children: Anne, a law university student, and Lucien, who was adopted. In spite of Émilie’s efforts, Berthe is not happy in her daughter’s bourgeois home in BlagnacBlagnac
Blagnac is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Toulouse, although governed by a separate council, and is adjacent to it on the northwest side. It is a member of the Urban community of Greater Toulouse...
. She sits by the swimming pool in the middle of the night talking to herself and finds the house pretentious. Worried about her mother physical and mental health, Émilie pays a visit to her unmarried younger brother, Antoine, a neurosurgeon. They have no seen each other for three years, since they quarreled at their father’s funeral. Émilie informs Antoine of their mother condition and invites him to a Christmas dinner with the entire family.
On Christmas Eve, Antoine arrives to her sister's home when Émilie, Bruno and their daughter are leaving to midnight mass. The neurotic, Antoine has to remind himself not to be carried away and spoil the evening. As he wanders though the house looking for his mother, Antoine surprises his nephew Lucien, who works at a night club in town, making out with Khadija, Émilie and Bruno’s uninhibited Moroccan secretary who has been invited to spend Christmas with the family. Antoine promises not to tell anything. When he finds his mother's room, Berthe is delighted to see her son, but complains about living with her daughter. She dislikes Bruno, has no affection for the grandchildren and does not value her daughter’s efforts to make her feel at ease. Dinner is lively, but after the youngsters leave for Lucien’s room, tempers flares between Bruno and Antoine and they end up in a fist fight. Bruno becomes angry; Antoine leaves with a bleeding nose and Berthe departs with her son. Talking later with Bruno, Émilie loathes what they have become. Anne is distraught with the family's dispute and looks for Khadija's company.
Berthe returns to live alone in her farm but she suffers a struck. This forces Émilie to visit her brother once again. Antoine has moved to a small apartment in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. He is glad to learn that Émilie has separated from Bruno. The siblings agree to place their mother in a nursing home as the only viable option. They pick up Berthe and on their way they remember old times. When Émilie and Antoine sing as they used to when they were children, Berthe cheers up. On a stop during the trip, Antoine fulfills a childhood dream and goes skinny dipping in a river. Berthe introduces her children to the director of the retirement home. She took good care of her children and they are now two very successful professionals who are too busy to take care of her, she says bitterly. Pressured by her brother, Émilie spends a night at Antoine’s apartment. He gives her a pill to help her sleep and joins Khadija and Anne at the bar where Lucien works. Anne has now given up her law studies and works in a music shop. Lucien and Khadija have a rocky relationship. Antonie tries to rekindle the childhood closeness that he enjoyed with his sister.
When Antoine and Émilie visit their mother at the retirement home, Berthe’s physical and mental health has visibly deteriorated. She wished she would have had a third child because that child would have taken care of her. Émilie and Antoine remove their mother from the nursing home. An exam at the hospital where Antoine works confirms their suspicion, Berthe is in her final decline. Émilie moves back to her house at Blagnac. Antoine breaks into the house to talk to her, and they have an argument. They recriminate each other about their behavior towards their sick mother. Feeling guilty, Antoine makes a halfhearted attempt to commit suicide. He jumps from the balcony of his apartment breaking a leg. Berthe dies alone at the hospital. After the funeral, Antoine, Émilie, Bruno, Lucien, Anne and Khadija meet at the house in Blagnac and have breakfast outdoors. During the conversation Anne asks the others which is their favorite season since she does not have one. At Antoine’s departure Émilie recites a poem which she learned as a song when she was a child. She used to sing that song while waiting at school for the holidays and be reunited with Antoine.
Cast
- Catherine DeneuveCatherine DeneuveCatherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
as Émilie - Daniel AuteuilDaniel AuteuilDaniel Auteuil is a French film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Algiers, French Algeria.-Career:...
as Antoine - Marthe VillalongaMarthe VillalongaMarthe Villalonga , is a French actress. She has appeared in 93 films between 1963 and 2008.She was born in Fort-de-l'Eau, Algeria.-External links:...
as Berthe - Jean-Pierre Bouvier as Bruno
- Chiara MastroianniChiara MastroianniChiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
as Anne - Carmen ChaplinCarmen ChaplinCarmen Chaplin is an actress, who belongs to the family of Charlie Chaplin.-Family:Carmen Chaplin is an English multicultural actress, director and writer....
as Khadija - Anthony Prada as Lucien
- Michèle Moretti as director of the retirement home
- Jacques NolotJacques NolotJacques Nolot , is a French actor, screenwriter and film director.- Life :Jacques Nolot was born on 31 August 1943, Marciac, Gers, a small village in Southwest France. A fragile child, Nolot was doted upon by his mother, a woman who had three children with three different fathers...
as man at the cemetery - Bruno TodeschiniBruno TodeschiniBruno Todeschini is a Swiss actor.Todeschini studied at L'école supérieure d'art dramatique in Genève and after graduating in 1986, he joined the Théàtre des Amandiers in Nanterre, directed by Patrice Chéreau....
as Émilie's lover - Jean Bousquet as Émilie's father
- Roschdy ZemRoschdy ZemRoschdy Zem is a French actor of Moroccan descent. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in the film "Days of Glory" at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival....
as Medhi - Ingrid CavenIngrid CavenIngrid Caven is a German film actress and singer. Her younger sister Trudeliese Schmidt was an opera singer and also an actress.Caven has appeared in over 50 films since her film debut in 1969 in the short film...
as singer at the bar
Production
My Favorite season is based on an original screenplay by director André Téchiné that he and the scriptwriter and actor Pascal Bonitzer adapted for the screen. For the main roles Téchiné cast two of the best known French film stars: Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil. It was their third collaboration having worked together previously in Gérard PirèsGérard Pirès
-Filmography:* Guo bao zong dong yuan * Les Chevaliers du ciel * Double zéro * Steal * Taxi...
's crime drama L'Agression (Act of Aggression) (1975) and Claude Lelouch's Us Two (À nous deux) (1979 ). In smaller roles: Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcelo Mastroianni, and Carmen Chaplin, a grand daughter of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, made their film debut. Principal shooting took place in the southern French city of Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
and in the department of Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse.-History:Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.The...
.
Reception
My Favorite season premiered on 14 May 1993 as the opening film at the 46th Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. With 1.1 million tickets sold, it remains Téchiné’s biggest box office success in France. The film was initially unable to acquire an American distributor and was released in the United States only three years later, following the modest art-house success of Téchiné’s subsequent effort, Wild Reeds. It made $760,865 at the American box office, a respectable amount for a foreign language art film.
The film received generally good reviews. It is widely considered, with Wild Reeds and Thieves
Thieves (film)
Thieves is a 1996 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve and Laurence Côte. The plot follows a cynical police officer, who comes from a family of thieves, and a lonely philosophy professor, both romantically involved with a self-destructive petty...
, among Téchiné's best films. Review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 92% of 12 critics gave the film a positive review.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
from the Chicago Sun-Times called My Favorite season "One of those intriguing films that functions without a plot, and uses instead an intense curiosity about its characters". In her review for the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
commented that the film "finds the director probing believable troubles with honesty, intelligence and tact...Téchiné echoes the emotional fearlessness of a Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
or Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
in trying to capture the difficult, unruly essence of his characters' inner lives." She called the film an "intense, moving story of loss and renewal". Online film critic, James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
praised the film commenting that "For those who enjoy rich, complex character dramas, the arrival of My Favorite Season is a cause for celebration. Edward Gutmann from the San Francisco Chronicle praised the look of the film. Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called My favorite season " a mature and pensive film". While in a disagreeing note Todd McCarthy in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
found the exposition of the plot " dull".
Awards and nominations
- Boston Film CriticsBoston Society of Film CriticsThe Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the...
(USA)- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
- Cannes Film Festival1993 Cannes Film Festival- Jury :* Louis Malle * Claudia Cardinale * Inna Churikova * Judy Davis * Abbas Kiarostami * Emir Kusturica * William Lubtchansky * Tom Luddy * Gary Oldman * Augusto M...
(France)- Nominated: Golden Palm (André Téchiné)
- César Awards (France)
- Nominated: Best Actor – Leading Role (Daniel Auteuil)
- Nominated: Best Actress – Leading Role (Catherine Deneuve)
- Nominated: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Marthe Villalonga)
- Nominated: Best Director (André Téchiné)
- Nominated: Best Film
- Nominated: Best Writing (Pascal Bonitzer and André Téchiné)
- Nominated: Most Promising Actress (Chiara Mastroianni)
- Gramado Film Festival (Brazil)
- Nominated: Golden Kikito - Best Latin Film (André Téchiné)