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Surviving Christmas with the Relatives
At Christmas, families frequently reunite after months apart to celebrate the tidings of the season and gleefully get on each's other nerves over stuffing balls and pigs in blankets. Sibling rivalry flares during three chaotic days in writer-director James Dearden's gently paced comedy drama. Miranda (Gemma Whelan) and her husband Dan (Julian Ovenden) are trying to forge a better life for their children away from the hustle and bustle of the city. They are renovating the ramshackle country house owned by Miranda's parents, which has always hosted the family's Christmas get-togethers. Honouring this tradition, Miranda and Dan welcome Miranda's sister Lyla (Joely Richardson), a fading Hollywood star in the dying throes of a bad marriage to her alcoholic agent, Trent (Michael Landes). The sisters clash, reopening old wounds in the company of other relatives including uncle John (James Fox) and aunt Peggy (Patricia Hodge). Meanwhile, Miranda and Dan's son Harry (Jonas Moore) wrestles with drug addiction and the growing emotional distance from his loved ones.
