Review of The Letter (1998) by Mike M — 26 Dec 2010

The sisters' struggles risk hewing too specifically to the experiences of Russian-Jewish emigres with musical connections, in a way Woody Allen's New York stories (which must, surely, have been an inspiration) never do.

Still, we've surely all lived through at least one trying Christmas along these lines, and the characters as written - riven with an indecisiveness that explains their various indiscretions, yearning for the resolution that would be the best present of all - are possessed of an unusual depth; even the potentially irritating device of having them address the camera from time to time seems to stem from a need to seek our understanding, and perhaps even our forgiveness.

(As the building supervisor says to the girls' ailing father: "You'll die guilty, as we all do.") Plenty to admire, then: Thompson never descends into manbashing, however much the plot gives her the opportunity to do so; she equally resists the urge to tie these crises up in a neat bow as the credits roll, and fills out the supporting roles with welcome faces (Darroussin, Helene Fillieres, Carre).

If it finally falls all too squarely in the tradition of quality French cinema, we should keep in mind that when Hollywood tries to do something similarly mature with the holiday season, the result is "The Family Stone".