Y'aura-t-il de la neige à Noël? (Will It Snow for Christmas?) (1996)

Those expected a warm fuzzy Yuletide movie will be disappointed, for this French film is not really about Christmas at all, but rather it is a tender slice-of-life drama about an impoverished and never-married mother trying to raise seven children and keep a rustic, ramshackle farm productive while contending with the father of her children, a self-centered, manipulative brute who is legally married to another. The tale is set in an unspecified past and located in the south of France. The farmhouse where the woman lives lacks central heat and indoor plumbing; there is little surrounding land from which to eke out a living. Her lover, on the other hand owns a large, productive parcel. His presence in the home is a dark spot on the lives of the eldest children for he treats the as personal slaves while showing kindness to their younger siblings. Sometimes he hits the mother, but as she does love him and feels she cannot escape. When the father is not around, she and the children are at their happiest. When he comes over and starts fooling around with the oldest daughter, the mother finally wakes up and attempts to toss her lover from her life. Though a moving story, it is not sentimental; rather the filmmaker keeps an objective distance that allows the viewer to savor the complexity of the family's dynamics.