Search - My Favorite Season on DVD

Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Not For Children Movie Release: 1993 DVD Release: 06/29/1999 Format: DVD - Letterbox for TV Audio Tracks: French Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 2 mins Studio: Fox Lorber Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Drama, Psychological Drama, Family Drama

French critic and filmmaker André Téchiné directs the intense family drama Ma Saison Préférée (My Favorite Season), which he co-wrote with screenwriter Pascal Bonitzer. Family matriarch Berthe (Marthe Villalonga) is advancing in years and developing health problems, so she goes to live with her daughter Emilie (Catherine Deneuve). Emilie is a cold, fiftysomething professional who lives in a large upper-class home in Toulouse. She also lives with her husband Bruno (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), her daughter Anne (Deneuve's real-life daughter Chiara Mastroianni), and her adopted son Lucien (Anthony Prada). When Christmas arrives, Emilie's troubled brother Antoine (Daniel Auteuil) arrives at the house for a visit. He and Emilie have not spoken since their father's funeral three years ago. Despite his attempts to maintain control, Antoine quickly comes into conflict with Bruno. Painful emotional realities from the past return and cause violent conclusions. My Favorite Season was shown in competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Catherine Deneuve - Emilie
Daniel Auteuil - Antoine
Marthe Villalonga - Berthe
Jean-Pierre Bouvier - Bruno
Chiara Mastroianni - Anne

This Fox Lorber DVD release of the exquisite My Favorite Season is far from perfect, but at least this complex and fascinating movie is available for home viewing in the digital format. André Téchiné is famous for employing extended tracking shots in his pictures, and the cinematography of Thierry Arbogast (renowned for shooting most of Luc Besson's features) is exceptionally beautiful. Their work is presented in a clean widescreen transfer, but since it wasn't done using the superior anamorphic process, there are some moments of image pixilation (in plain English: the televised image breaks up on occasion). Thankfully, this doesn't detract from the enjoyment of this rich and somewhat unsettling drama. A movie that deals with family and the natural (but potentially unsettling and harmful) bonds that exist between siblings, My Favorite Season merits multiple viewings, and whatever the disc's flaws, it's good to have this Fox Lorber DVD release. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide