La Bûche

Screenwriter Danièle Thompson's directorial debut is the kind of women's picture Hollywood can't do any more without submerging it in life-affirming sentiment. There will be clichéd characters in any ensemble piece, but rarely will they be as well played as they are here. Everyone impresses, from Charlotte Gainsbourg's lonely career girl and Emmanuelle Béart's jilted model housewife to their pregnant singer sister Sabine Azéma and her indecisive married lover, Jean-Pierre Darroussin. There's a real sense of family fashioned around Françoise Fabian and Claude Rich and, though the episodes seem mundane, they vibrate with a wit and warmth that's both identifiable and affecting.