Family Resemblances

A French family meets at a restaurant for a birthday. As the meal goes on, old accounts, grudges and the things nobody says out loud come to the table one at a time. The setting is Henri's bar, called The Even Tempered Dad. His sister Betty, his brother Philippe and their mother are all there. Denis the barman stands outside it as the only level head in the room. Cedric Klapisch directed and wrote the screenplay with Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri. It opened on 6 November 1996. It won three Cesars: Best Original or Adapted Screenplay, plus supporting acting prizes for Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Catherine Frot. It also took awards at the Lumiere Awards and the Montreal Film Festival. On a 3.8 million euro budget it grossed 35.4 million dollars. Who it is for: viewers who like single-location family comedies driven by talk. Who it is not for: anyone wanting movement. The film happens almost entirely around one table and all the work is in the lines.