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"La Vie est belle", "Santa et Cie" ... our 5 favorite films to stay in the Christmas mood

2020-12-25T10:10:57.871Z


Here is a small selection of our favorite Christmas movies that will allow you to extend the holiday atmosphere a little.


Ah, Christmas!

His films, which we see in the cinema (unfortunately, not this year) or on television… Real Proust madeleines, which inevitably plunge us back into good memories.

Here is our selection.

"Life is beautiful": moving

Ah, Zuzu's petals!

Each time, when James Stewart finds his daughter's flower petals in his pocket, I burst into tears.

Just to write this sentence, my hairs stand on end.

This Christmas tale by Frank Capra, released in 1947, is a perpetual delight.

The story of this angel who has to do his good deed on earth to earn his wings, frankly, on paper, it deserves a simple shrug.

And yet, everything is magical in this film touched by grace, a vibrant humanist ode, not loud for two cents.

We follow the trajectory of George Bailey (unforgettable James Stewart), a big-hearted son who draws a line on his dreams of elsewhere to safeguard his father's altruistic enterprise.

On Christmas Day, crippled with debts, doubts and rage, he thinks of jumping off a bridge.

This is where Clarence comes in, an angel of the second division, as touching as he is blundering ...

No matter how much I see him, see him again, the pleasure doesn't budge one iota.

The moment when James Stewart and Donna Reed whistle in the moonlight is beyond the charm of any romantic comedy.

The one where they are arguing, each hanging from the same phone, capsizes me.

And the epilogue, emotional peak summed up in a ringing of bells, well, that's it, I'm crying.

Of happiness.

"La Vie est belle"

, American film by Frank Capra (1947) with James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore… 2h10.

Available on VOD and broadcast on Arte on December 29 at 8:50 p.m.

"Santa & Cie": funny

Merry Chrismas, Mister Chabat!

Thank you for revisiting the Christmas spirit.

I am lucky to have been a rocked student at Canal + and to have seen the Dummies land on my small screen.

My four favorite comedians, Bruno Carette, Chantal Lauby, Dominique Farrugia and the leader of the band, Alain Chabat, have since gone to the big screen.

I had cried with laughter in front of “The City of Fear”, “Didier” or “Asterix and Obelix: mission Cleopatra”, I knew I was going to adore “Santa & Cie”.

Even if I can admit it, I had a little apprehension.

A quirky and crazy family comedy about Christmas?

How not to flirt with a good feeling that is a little too dripping?

It was without counting on the talent of the ex-Null who dares everything.

Because yes, it's tender and charming, but it's mostly sassy and hilarious.

Ubuesque situations, great dialogues, gags, puns… everything is there.

Come on Alain, we “get our fingers out of the hood”, your Elves are out of order and you have three days to go to Paris and find 92,000 tubes of aspirin.

“Santa & Cie”

by and with Alain Chabat (2017), and also Audrey Tautou, Pio Marmaï… 1h32.

Available on MyCanal.

"The Holiday": romantic

It just aired on TMC last Sunday, but it's still available on Amazon Prime Video to watch it for the umpteenth time.

“The Holiday” is my favorite Christmas romantic comedy (yes, ahead of “Love Actually”).

Because Kate Winslet's little cottage in the film makes me want to move to the English countryside and because stumbling across Jude Law while on a year-end vacation abroad wouldn't be bad either.

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Obviously, the twists and turns of the film are a little expected, but we can only melt in front of so much tenderness.

The cast is absolutely perfect, as it is completed by Cameron Diaz, annoying and eccentric just right, and Jack Black, still so funny without being too much.

Between the Los Angeles sun and the British frost, "The Holiday" always takes me on a journey as I am snuggled under a blanket on my sofa.

“The Holiday”

, by Nancy Meyers (2006), with Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach… 2h11.

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas": different

A talented film artist - Tim Burton, who wrote and produced it but couldn't direct it because he was caught up in another project - joyfully energizing the spirit of the end of the year holidays, a delusional hero, a story of love between two creepy creatures, a staggering kidnapping of Santa Claus… Everything about “The Nightmare Before Christmas” has always delighted me, and I've watched the film every year for 26 years - only the first few years , with my daughter since - around December 25th.

This animated feature film - considered a masterpiece of the genre and which mixes several techniques - begins in the imaginary city of Halloween, populated by spooky beings and directed by Jack Skelington, halfway between the scarecrow and skeleton.

While preparing as every year for the Halloween party, he hears about Christmas, and decides to replace Santa Claus after having removed him, despite the warnings of the one who secretly loves him, Sally, a charming rag doll.

Many adventures will follow ...

To see as a family if, like me, you like to move, to tremble, to sing - the songs in the film are amazing - and to laugh with colorful marginal characters and a script that delivers pretty messages about difference… It's also that the spirit of Christmas!

“The Nightmare Before Christmas”

, by Henry Selick (1994), 1h15 animated film.

From 7 years old.

Available on Disney +.

"Mom I missed the plane !"

: delusional

To tell the truth, when I entered this cinema on the Champs-Elysées, in December 1990, which offered this film, it was not this Christmas story that appealed to me, but the name of the screenwriter: the great John Hughes.

The one who, as a director, had spawned galactic madnesses such as "La Folle Journée by Ferris Bueller" (1986) or "A Ticket for Two" (1987).

I have never regretted my choice: “Mom, I missed the plane!

Made me laugh from start to finish and, when he goes back to TV, I sometimes zap it to see one of his countless gags.

Because the film is nothing more than a long "cartoon", a version with real actors of a cartoon by Tex Avery, during which a clever and facetious kid, by accident remained alone at home while his parents went on Christmas vacation, has to deal with a team of particularly clumsy and unlucky burglars.

Hence a festival of grimaces, falls, blows that hurt (the bad guys) and laughter (the spectators), a permanent delirium that does good to the zygomatic.

"Mom I missed the plane !"

, by Chris Columbus (1990), with Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern… 1h43.

Available on Disney +.

Source: leparis

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