My Favorite Season

André Téchiné, 1993, France, 126min, 35mm
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, Marthe Villalonga, Jean-Pierre Bouvier

When her elderly mother can no longer live alone on the family farm, Emilie (Deneuve) is forced to resume ties with her estranged brother Antoine (Daniel Auteuil). Antoine’s return has the effect of an emotional tornado, revealing the dangerously close bond that drove the siblings apart in the first place and opening the fault lines in his strait-laced sister’s life. In this extraordinarily rich evocation of the inexorable passage of time and the uncontrollable nature of familial love, Auteuil shines as the unfiltered, insecure Antoine, while Deneuve allows her legendary veneer to crack, delivering one of her most nuanced, raw performances.