Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Spoonixel Amateur movie with Big budget

MartinHafer If you hate Christmas and think that love and family are as fleeting as the wind, then I sure have a recommendation for you--"La Bûche". It's thoroughly unpleasant and a cynic's idea of comedy. I noticed other reviewers generally loved this film, though I really have no idea why. I'd rather shove my head into a gas oven than see this one again!! The film begins at a funeral. Yvette's husband has died and her three daughters from a previous marriage have arrived at the graveside to be with her. Over the course of the film, you learn that EVERYONE in the film--not just Yvette and her family but EVERYONE is selfish, cheats on their spouses and are emotional messes. All are self-involved and foolish and for some reason with this death and Christmas just a few days away, folks start to reminisce--though for the most part, what they look back on was only temporary and a charade. Now here's the weird part--no one takes relationships seriously in this film and everyone is self-absorbed, yet it is somehow supposed to be funny and uplifting! What's funny and uplifting about a woman who has been having an affair with a married man for 12 years and is now pregnant (while the man's wife is ALSO pregnant)? What's funny and uplifting about a divorced couple who finally sit down together after decades of animosity and discuss all the affairs they had while they were married? And, what's funny and uplifting about a couple who appear happy, successful and have a young child--yet are splitting up at Christmas? The only positive thing I can say about this film is that the acting was very good. The story, on the other hand, is only enjoyable if you hate family, hate Christmas and assume everyone is a cheat. God bless us, everyone!

edward dardis The English title is a good one, as despite the great opening scenes in Paris, it really is a film about how people deal with the extra stress Christmas seems to bring, or as the characters describe it, a "hostile depression". I could enjoy seeing this as a Christmas tradition! My rating is actually a 7.5, if that was an option. The film is a little understated, in that typically French way.I like the way the actors do a reminiscence directly to the camera and the audience, especially Francoise Fabian and Claude Rich, who play the couple who have been split up for 25 years but who have not seen each other since, even though they have 3 daughters.I also liked Sabine Azema, who I just realized I had seen very recently in Coeurs (2006)... aka Private Fears in Public Places... as Charlotte, and didn't even recognize her. Claude Rich does the voice for Arthur. While Charlotte's character is interesting, I couldn't recommend Coeurs.La Buche, however, yes.

writers_reign Three sisters of Russian parentage; one married but not too happily, one having an affair with a married man who'll never leave his wife and one without a man at all and unhappy; all three longing for something ... I like to think that Daniele Thompson wrote this charmer with her tongue in her cheekhov but who knows. What I do know is that together with son Christopher Thompson, who also has a featured role, she has hit one out of the park in her first at bat. We shouldn't be too surprised, she wrote her first screenplay at the age of 24 and Le Grande Vadrouille, directed by her father and ex-actor Gerard Oury was one of the biggest hits in France and is still aired regularly. Along the way she has written such comedies as La Folie de grandeurs, Le Cerveau, Les Adventures de Rabbi Jacob plus the more mainstream Cousin, Cousine, La Boum, Les Marmottes, La Reine Margot, Belle Maman, Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train (Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train) and Decalage Horaire, solid credits whichever way you slice it. La Buche begins on December 20, with a funeral. The widow, Yvette (Francoise Fabian) is joined initially by two of her daughters, Louba (Sabine Azema) the eldest and Sonia (Emmanuelle Beart), the middle one. With the ceremony all but over the youngest, Milla (Charlotte Gainsbourg) arrives wearing a miniskirt, as Sonia bitches to Louba later. The deceased is, in fact, the stepfather of the three girls, their parents having been divorced some 25 years previously. The respective characters are limmned economically and expertly. Sonia, the successful one who buys groceries wholesale to save FF300, Louba the hopeless romantic who sings Russian songs in a Russian restaurant and has been involved with a married man, Gilbert (Jean-Pierre Larroussin) for 12 years and Milla, the youngest and most rebellious who is also successful but chooses to live, according to Sonia, in a rat hole. The film chronicles the family during the build-up to Christmas and naturally everyone has their own problems; Louba, at 42, has become pregnant but feels unable to tell her lover - Gilbert is an up-market estate agent and their trysts take place in well-appointed apartments in between sales and Thompson extracts a little gently mileage out of Azema bringing her own bed linen and packing it the next morning - Sonia's marriage is on the rocks, Milla is so lonely she canvasses casual work colleagues as to their availability for Christmas whilst Stanislaus, the girl's natural father, who during his marriage was a serial adulterer, remains bitter even after 25 years and subjects Louba, who lives with him, to an ongoing barrage of bile. Even the tenant, Joseph (Christopher Thompson), who has become an unofficial carer for Stanislaus, has problems in the shape of ex-wife Annabelle (Isabelle Carre) who has custody except at Christmas when she is reluctant to surrender it. Thompson weaves these separate strands expertly into a huge, warm blanket and contrives to deal with most if not all of the problems. A stunning debut with acting honors divided equally with all hands well worth five stars. 8/10

agos_ Tender, real, funny memorable, are words that describe this film to me. The first time I saw it, it was only the end of it, but that was enough to let me know this will be a favorite. Maybe I am not such an expert, but it has the elements a film must have to be in my memory.