But what a joy to see director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti working together again. It’s hard to believe that the winning duo of Sideways hadn’t toured together in almost twenty years. Alchemy always operates in Winter Breaka Christmas film that resembles its hero: gruff, endearing and whom we love dearly as we get to know him in a deserted high school during the winter of 1970.
“I thought of Paul for a lot of projects,” confides Alexander Payne to 20 minutes, but it took two decades for the stars to align again. We found ourselves on set as if we had never left each other. » The sinister New Year’s Eve spent by an odious teacher played by Paul Giamatti, a solitary student and a cook whose son has just been killed in the Vietnam War brings balm to the heart like a big fire in the fireplace.
An almost ordinary man
“Paul Giamatti has the charm of an Everyman with a little something extra,” explains Alexander Payne. He brings incredible humanity to a character that we find at first glance totally unsympathetic as he is so unpleasant with his students and colleagues. » With his threadbare costumes and his taste for alcohol, the detestable professor seems forever confined in his bitterness without hope of redemption. Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, this teacher who has not left his establishment for years becomes humanized to the point of opening himself up to life again.
“His companions in misfortune will pierce his shell,” insists the director. Paul was able to bring out the humanity of this loner who discovers characters as abandoned as himself. » The clash between these beings who have nothing in common other than being alone during the end-of-year holidays is beneficial for the trio. The director of Nebraska and of The Descendants plays a little music so delicate that we let ourselves be gently drawn into the dance.
A generous film
Winter Break has none of the flashy and artificial Christmas films that the month of December too often reserves for us. Alexander Payne does not eat this log that is much too sweet for him: he offers a convivial and generous dish which makes us hope that he will not wait another twenty years to work again with Paul Giamatti.