When it comes to insightful, humorous dissections of family dysfunction, Arnaud Desplechin can’t be matched. Set in Roubaix—the director’s hometown—a small city in northern France along the Belgian border, A Christmas Tale concerns the Vuillard family, a nominally happy clan that has nonetheless been torn apart by death and the sibling hatred between Elizabeth, the eldest child, and Henri, the middle child. When the indefatigable Vuillard matriarch, Junon, discovers she has a rare type of leukemia, the family’s Christmas gathering—which also includes the patient paterfamilias, Abel, the youngest sibling, Ivan, spouses, significant others, children, cousins, and old family friends—is marked by frequent discussions of who will be the most compatible bone-marrow donor for Junon. As in his 2004 film, Kings and Queen, Desplechin expertly depicts the volatility of family dynamics without ever becoming cynical about the fractious nature of blood ties. In one of the film’s more astonishing scenes, Junon imperiously tells Henri that she never loved him—an emotional stance made far more complicated when the prodigal son turns out to be Junon’s most compatible donor.