Y aura-t-il de la neige à Noël? (1996)
Directed by Sandrine Veysset

Film Review

This striking portrait of rural family life marked Sandrine Veysset's remarkable directoral debut.  The film was widely acclaimed in France, winning Veysset a César and the prestigious Louis-Delluc Prize in 1996.

This is not a comfortable film to watch, and the lack of coherent narrative does make the film appear slow and overly long.  It is much closer to a documentary than a conventional film drama, but the quality of the photography and Dominique Reymond's emotionally charged performance as the struggling mother gives it a distinctive artistic quality.

The first part of the film is perhaps the most moving, with the hardship and stress of rural life being gradually exposed amidst the halcyon beauty of the sun-soaked French countryside.  As the film sinks further into gloom and doom, mirroring the change in the seasons, it becomes a little repetitive and tedious, and the final note of optimism which ends the film has a whiff of sentimentality about it. Despite this, the film is worth watching, mainly for the artistic flair Veysset demonstrates in telling this moving and highly relevant social drama.

Film Synopsis

In the south of France, a young woman works all hours on her common-law husband's market garden farm whilst struggling to bring up her seven young children.  Although she is a kind and gentle soul, always willing to do what is required of her without complaint, her husband shows her no compassion and treats her like a slave, using and abusing her as he pleases during his infrequent visits.  Mercifully, this tyrannical brute spends most of his time away from the farm, living with his legitimate family when he is not otherwise occupied taking his produce to market.  The neglected second wife soldiers on as best she can but the arduous, comfortless nature of her life is gradually sapping her morale.  In the end, her thoughts turn to escaping from this dreadful existence...