A little advice, if you have to spend Christmas with Valérie Bonneton (you never know), avoid drinking a glass of champagne. You will understand why by going to see the film “Christmas Balls”. It hits the screens this Wednesday, November 27, and was filmed in Angoulême and Jarnac this summer, in the middle of a heatwave, while the actors were in down jackets under the snow for the purposes of the script. With this comedy, which brings together Kad Merad and Noémie Lvovsky around Valérie Bonneton, we are far from the marshmallow atmosphere of American Christmas films.
In the family of Nathalie (Valérie Bonneton) and Antonin (Kad Merad), struck by a curse every year at Christmas before the stroke of midnight, everyone is completely crazy. The evil grandmother, the vegan daughter, and the heartless parents with their cross-eyed child. Crazy characters like the director, Alexandra Leclère, likes. We laugh a lot. The characters go very far into madness. And we don't always see the twists and turns coming in this family closed-door.
End of filming of the film “Christmas Balls” in Jarnac for Valérie Bonneton.
Celine Levain
Your brother lives in Vouharte. Are you going to spend Christmas in Charente, where the film was shot?
Valérie Bonneton. No, I'm going to spend it in Paris where I've just moved. But I loved this region. We filmed in a house in Jarnac and I stayed in an isolated house next door. The filming building was sublime, decorated with 120-year-old wallpaper. I loved crossing the landscapes. It was magnificent. I told my brother that the next time I come to see him, we have to go for a walk around. It is a beautiful region, well located.
After this film, you will never see Christmas the same way again…
I love preparing and cooking at Christmas. It's good that this celebration exists, it forces us to get together as a family. I find it joyful. But, it's true that this year, I will think about certain scenes from the film. Parents who are on fire, we will avoid… This is a film to recommend to all those who are dreading a family reunion, who are afraid of finding the person who ruins the atmosphere. But after this film, I think they will hold their own…
What is your fondest Christmas memory?
An incredible Christmas with my children in the mountains with Santa Claus knocking on the window and leaving. And my greatest gift would be for the film to be recognized for its true value. We really went crazy. I loved that.
