Émilie (Catherine Deneuve) and Antoine (Daniel Auteuil) are middle-aged siblings that live radically different lives. She is a successful lawyer who is in an unhappy marriage with her legal partner (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), who are together only for the sake of their children (Chiara Mastroianni and Anthony Prada), who are now adults in their own right and starting their individual lives, while Antoine is an unmarried neurologist whose entire existence revolves around his work. The siblings haven’t spoken to each other in years, after they a dramatic fallout on the subject of their recently-deceased father. However, they soon find themselves back in each other’s lives again when their mother, Berthe (Marthe Villalonga) has a stroke that alerts them to the fact that, despite being a resilient and strong woman, she is now at the age where she simply cannot live alone in her countryside farmhouse anymore. Despite their concerns, neither Émilie or Antoine quite know what to do with their mother, who is vehemently against being treated as some kind of helpless senior citizen, wanting to continue living her simple but meaningful life, which she doesn’t see reflected in the lifestyle of either of her children, who she lambasts for only caring about her when there is the threat that they’re going to lose her. Over the course of a season, the brother and sister come to realize that, despite their wildly different paths in life, there is still a connection there that binds them together, and while caring for their dying mother may not be the reunion they expected, they get to know each other all over again, and discover that there are more similarities between them than differences.

When it comes to looking at the prolific career of Andre Téchiné, one aspect that underpins many of his films is a sincere understanding of the human condition, which he explores in different forms. My Favorite Season (French: Ma saison préférée) is a poignant drama about a broken family that are desperately seeking to put together the fragments of their relationship in the midst of an event that causes them to put aside the previous drama and instead focus on mending what has eroded over time. The kind of quiet, but thoroughly rousing French drama that demonstrates an incredible elegance in its approach to a relatable story, My Favorite Season is a wonderful film that is consistently meaningful, finding joy in some of life’s most difficult subjects, and exploring everyday minutiae with a kind of graceful sincerity that can only come from someone with as implicit an understanding of how we function as Téchiné, who truly does something extraordinary with this film. A devastating portrait of a family undergoing changes, some of them more challenging than others but all entirely necessary, My Favorite Season takes some worthwhile risks in how it investigates the different relationships amongst three generations of a family, and leaves the audience with a profound sense of comfort, even when the vast majority of what we see depicted on screen is propelled by the kind of heartbreaking melancholy that transcends the form and speaks to a kind of artistic soulfulness rarely ever touched on in such a raw, but undeniably warm, manner. In short, My Favorite Season is an exceptional achievement and one of the most affecting dramas of the 1990s.

When it comes to this form of simple family drama, we can normally reduce them to the same set of narrative principles – estranged family members reunite for a particular reason (positive or negative), and over the course of the story, work through their own personal issues before coming to an understanding, demonstrating a metaphysical maturity that wasn’t present in their relationship at the start. Téchiné doesn’t do much different in terms of constructing My Favorite Season, which is just about as straightforward a premise as we’d expect – but it is in this remarkable simplicity that the film manages to flourish into one of the most soul-stirring explorations of life’s many idiosyncrasies from this period. Inextricably human from the first frame to the last, the film conveys a sense of poignancy that would’ve been lost had the story not been structured by a filmmaker who consistently shows himself to be more than capable of curating genuine emotions that are always profoundly moving without resorting to inauthenticity. Each moment in My Favorite Season resounds with a kind of tender believability that makes it appear as if we’re peering through the keyhole of an ordinary family, watching as they go about their lives, rather than being an audience witnessing these constructed events transpire on screen. It’s undeniably an approach that could be seen as overly facile, especially when it’s focusing on such an incredibly simple premise, but through the meticulous detail brought to these relationships, Téchiné lovingly crafts a warm, sympathetic drama that carries a sense of kind-hearted nostalgia that allows it to hit incredible heights while still being the epitome of artistic humility.

The indication of a great artist, particularly those that deal with this kind of simple social realism, is one that makes us forget that we’re watching a film – and despite being populated by some wonderful actors, Téchiné genuinely makes us believe that we’re observers of an actual family. A large part of the success of My Favorite Season comes on behalf of the actors, with the ensemble consisting of many incredible actors giving some truly terrific performances. Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil play the two leads, and are both astonishing, mainly since they’re so contrastive to each other – Deneuve’s statuesque grace complements Auteuil’s more grounded, salt-of-the-earth sensibilities, both playing off each other incredibly well and convincing the audience to truth underpinning their familial relationship that drives most of the film. There is a rousing authenticity to these performances, where they’re able to reach incredible heights without being excessive or disingenuous. Marthe Villalonga is also exceptional as the siblings’ mother, an ageing widow who may be declining both physically and mentally, but is just as feisty as she was in her youth. Villalonga is a joy to watch on screen – she is lovable but isn’t reduced to a bundle of archetypal quirks that normally go into constructing the adorable old lady tropes. Instead, she is given the chance to command the screen regularly, playing the elderly Berthe with such incredible conviction – the role of a woman coming to terms with her own impending demise, while still refusing to give up her liveliness and succumb to the fragility of old age isn’t something we see represented often, so it does without saying that the complexity Villalonga brings to the part is absolutely astounding and a massive highlight of this already incredible film that relies very much on the strengths of its gifted ensemble.

The performances in My Favorite Season may be the reason the film works so well, but its the undying compassion that ties everything together and creates this beautifully cohesive work. To his credit, Téchiné is doing something quite incredible here by creating such a poignant family drama that avoids all the traditional pratfalls associated with this kind of story, instead opting for a far more interesting approach that foregoes narrative trickery, and instead presents the audience with a thoroughly compelling series of images and moments, creating a complex tapestry of the human condition through offering us a glimpse into the varying trials and tribulations of a single family, and the numerous challenges they face. Beautifully written – the dialogue in My Favorite Season is unquestionably one of its strongest elements, with the warmth evoked by Téchiné and screenwriter Pascal Bonitzer in the interactions between characters being pivotal to the development of the story – and put together with such incredible elegance, the film thrives on its heartfulness. There’s an authenticity embedded in My Favorite Season that propels it forward, always captivating the viewer’s attention without needing to be anything other than honest about its intentions, which is increasingly rare in even the most classy of human dramas, where some degree of sensationalism is often employed to bolster the story. My Favorite Season plunges some emotional depths rarely seen in such a pure form and gives us the opportunity to experience this story without the confines of conventions impinging on its incessant need to be itself.

My Favorite Season is a film defined by its steadfast determination to be entirely authentic, to the point where it risks alienating the audience with its stark and honest approach to portraying life’s biggest existential quandaries. This serves the film exceptionally well, especially in how it manages to evoke genuine tears in its most devastating scenes, and true laughter in the occasional moment of effervescent levity used to break the tension and show that even in life’s most dire moments, there is always a chance to find some tender joy. Driven by a delicate melancholy that may not be easy to digest at first, but shepherded by a director who creates an affecting human drama that may be centred on the realization of imminent sadness, but avoids misery altogether, rather choosing to be a steadfast celebration of life, and a poignant reminder to cherish every moment, even those seemingly inconsequential seconds that may be unimportant in the present, but will grow into the moments that linger with us forever. My Favorite Season is such a potent experience, a film reverberating with genuine emotion to the point where it becomes indelible to the plot, and through being interpreted by a gifted cast that admirably handles the heavy subject matter without turning in overwrought performances, the film becomes something of a marvel – despite focusing on something quite downbeat, there isn’t a moment in My Favorite Season that feels unsettling. The warmth and earnest sincerity of the film make it worthwhile all on its own, and whether we latch onto the smallest detail or most profound statement on the challenges so many of us face at some point in our lives, it’s undeniable that this film succeeds wholeheartedly in being an incredibly beautiful work of pure, undistilled life that ventures beyond the boundaries of the form, and shows us something entirely new, while still deeply recognizable. Truly an unforgettable, incredibly honest piece of filmmaking.