Breaking news: Catherine Deneuve is now a brunette. But not too long ago when she was filming a movie now premiering at the New York Film Festival, "A Christmas Tale" she was still the blond we know andhave loved through decades of great movies: "Repulsion," "Belle de Jour," "The Last Metro," to name a few. Maybe those who saw the movie icon at the Metropolitan Pavilion on Friday afternoon at a vintage clothing sale quelled their suspicions, or did not recognize her atall because of the new do, but at a post screening dinner at the Osteria del Circo hosted by Blockbuster, she was seated at the end of a banquette with director Arnaud Desplechin, as beautiful as ever with brown hair. In Desplechin's richly drawn family story, she plays the matriarch Junon now needing a bone marrow transplant, to be donated by her least favorite son Henri (Mathieu Amalric, star of last year's festival hit, Julian Scnabel's Diving Bell and the Butterfly). The ensemble cast is excellent, especially Deneuve's real life daughter Chiara Mastroianni who plays Sylvia, married to one of Junon's sons, ex-girlfriend of another. This being a Christmas story after all, giving, donating are important themes and viewers will be moved by the immense caring conveyed in this 2 ½ hour epic. At the New York premiere on Friday night, many were speculating, is it a poster film for stem cell research, or, with its images of blood and body fluids under a microscope, a take on Schnabel's superb work. Feminist writer Susan Brownmiller came by to say hello to Deneuve and gave her an Obama button. How did you know, said the suave Deneuve, not missing a beat.
Regina Weinreich
Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura
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