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      My Favorite Season

      Released Apr 19, 1993 2h 5m Drama List
      93% 14 Reviews Tomatometer 80% 1,000+ Ratings Audience Score When her health begins to fail, Berthe (Marthe Villalonga), an aging widow, is forced to live with her successful but emotionally distant daughter, Emilie (Catherine Deneuve). In an attempt to mend her family, Emilie invites her estranged brother Antoine (Daniel Auteuil), a troubled neurosurgeon, to her house for Christmas. But when an argument between Antoine and Emilie's husband, Bruno (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), erupts at the dinner table, the family's troubled past rises to the surface. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (25) audience reviews
      Audience Member The only thing I can say is WHAT? I enjoyed this picture due in large part to Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil's chemistry. The storyline was all over the place leaving the viewer confused by the time the movie was over. Deneuve and Auteuil were great together leaving me to wonder why they were cast as brother and sister. With the exception Marthe Villalonga, who played the family matriarch, Berthe, there was no need for the adult children and the boring husband in the story. The only outsider is the son's on and off girlfriend, who also happens to work in the family's law firm but why should we care. She was just a plaything for the children of Deneuve's character and the wooden husband played by Jean-Pierre Bouvier. I mean the scene where the girlfriend is dancing naked during the Christmas Eve dinner entertaining both brother and sister is just silly. Maybe it is because the French are not uptight with sex and naked bodies that makes this scene too gratuitous and unnecessary. It was confusing and stupid for me to watch. Why did Mr. Auteuil's Antoine have a falling out with Ms. Deneuve's Emille? Mr. Auteuil was acting like a long lost lover to Ms. Deneuve instead of her brother. Like Gerard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil is a gifted actor who enables Ms. Deneuve's great acting to shine. Catherine Deneuve is a timeless beauty and a significant French actress of the late 20th century. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Even if you hate the implied incestuous relationship, My Favorite Season is still a genuine exploration of the elderly loneliness, the study of a dysfunctional family and a formidable attempt to catch up with the good old days. With the magnificent Daniel Auteuil having presented this complicated role vividly, coupled with the ever gorgeous Catherine Deneuve, the film won't leave you in disappointment despite the slow revelation. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Subtle with dense characterization and nuanced performances... Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Un excellent Téchiné sur les relations frère/sœur et la gestion du vieillissement de leur mère (magnifique Marthe Villalonga), tous les sentiments familiaux y sont auscultés avec beaucoup de finesse. Du très bon cinéma français. A voir. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member Easily my favorite Techine. The novelistic, episodic texture of his films, the deceptively simple camerawork, the prominent place of nature or the outdoors (for a sensibility so dark and melancholic, there's a surprising amount of sunshine in his films), all are present in this feature, in a nicely balanced dynamic. Fact is, what probably makes Techine so difficult a sell to Americans and to a wider audience is what makes him so special to those who can appreciate what his films can offer--the subtlety, the self-effacement, the seeming aimlessness that disguises a wider appreciation for the knotty complexities of life. One can say Ma saison preferee is all about a brother and sister (Daniel Auteuil as Antoine, Catherine Deneuve as Emilie) attempting to fit the care for their ailing mother (Marthe Villalonga as Berthe) in their busy lives, but it's so much more than that--it's about sibling intimacy (more difficult to render interestingly on the big screen than sibling rivalry); about parent-child disconnect casually accepted; about retaining or failing to retain one's childhood sense of wonder (and what is lost and gained as a consequence); about love long unrequited, or at least unconsummated. Techine's visual effects are equally unforced, elusive almost, acting like quicksilver fish in the way they flash and glimmer and vanish--the opening image, for example, of Berthe shutting out the breathtaking French countryside as she bangs close the windows of her house; or the old woman who suddenly breaks out in song, then is led away in slow motion; or Antoine's sudden vision of an empty bed, an open window, and the horror he knows waits for him on the street below. Wonderful film, an absolute masterpiece. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The best form director Techine and one of my best of all time! The writing and the acting are just incredibles! Auteuil and Deneuve at their peak. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      My Favorite Season

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (14) Critics Reviews
      Melissa Anderson 4Columns My Favorite Season-Deneuve's third film with director André Téchiné, and which he cowrote expressly for her-gives the actress one of the richest, most equitable relationships she's ever shared with a male co-lead. Apr 24, 2020 Full Review Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Rated: A- Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times One of those intriguing films that functions without a plot, and uses instead an intense curiosity about its characters. Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Felix Gonzalez Jr. DVD Review The film captures the joys and pains of real family life, never romanticizing them, and always presenting them with great perception and truthfulness. Aug 18, 2008 Full Review Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com Yum. Rated: 4/5 Feb 15, 2008 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 7, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis When her health begins to fail, Berthe (Marthe Villalonga), an aging widow, is forced to live with her successful but emotionally distant daughter, Emilie (Catherine Deneuve). In an attempt to mend her family, Emilie invites her estranged brother Antoine (Daniel Auteuil), a troubled neurosurgeon, to her house for Christmas. But when an argument between Antoine and Emilie's husband, Bruno (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), erupts at the dinner table, the family's troubled past rises to the surface.
      Director
      André Téchiné
      Screenwriter
      Pascal Bonitzer, André Téchiné
      Production Co
      Les Films Alain Sarde, TF1 Films Productions
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      French (Canada)
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Apr 19, 1993, Original
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Oct 3, 2015
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $25.3K
      Runtime
      2h 5m
      Sound Mix
      Surround