Mes très chers enfants (2021)

Chantal and Christian Blanc have two children: Sandrine and Stéphane. However, since moving to Paris, the two have never had time for their parents, even going so far as to avoid their phone calls. With the Christmas holidays approaching, the children make other plans instead of attending the traditional family dinner. This comes as a crushing blow to the Blancs, who are deeply attached to family values. They come up with a big idea to finally bring their children closer to them again: they will pretend they have won several million euros in the lottery. When they hear the news, the children—whose careers are going nowhere—are immediately tempted, and go to dinner at their parents’ house that very evening, already imagining themselves with a share of the winnings. For their part, Chantal and Christian make no effort to hide their “new lifestyle”: makeovers, a Rolex watch (bought from a street vendor), stylish clothes (counterfeit), a Lamborghini (rented at great expense), and trying on clothes in luxury boutiques (without buying anything, with Chantal claiming she forgot her wallet at home). Sandrine grows closer to her mother by “inviting” her to a luxurious lunch at La Tour d’Argent, but soon comes unstuck when she has to pay the bill. Shortly afterward, Chantal and Christian arrange a restaurant lunch to give their children their usual small Christmas gifts and then confess their “little joke.” But the children see red when they discover how paltry the gifts are, and loudly cut ties with their “fat, filthy rich, stingy bourgeois parents.” The parents then try to repair the damage without admitting to their lie: Chantal gives her daughter a Chanel bag, while Christian disguises the rental of a new Ferrari as a gift for his son. Although this works at first, they soon face new problems: Sandrine leaves her boyfriend Régis, whose dental practice she worked at as an assistant, takes a luxury suite at the Prince de Galles hotel, and expects her mother to finance her €1,000,000 tea-room project. As for Stéphane, his crooked boss, Édouard de Castignac, “kindly” pressures him to invest his share of the family inheritance in the company in exchange for a major promotion. This is too much for the Blancs, who stage a ski trip of indefinite duration to escape the impending disaster. But the deception is eventually uncovered, and the children once again break off all contact with their parents. Sandrine has to pay part of her hotel bill by handing over her bag to the receptionist, and Stéphane is soon fired from his job, while retaining the respect and admiration of his secretary, Valérie. Like Régis does for Sandrine, Valérie helps him see the importance of family and how lucky he is to still have loving parents alive. In the end, the family reconciles on Christmas Eve, with the children giving their parents a moving karaoke performance to the tune of “Mon vieux.” A year later, Sandrine and Stéphane have opened their own businesses while remaining close to their parents. But one day, Christian wins €1,000,000 with a scratch-off ticket. Should the parents tell their children, or pocket the jackpot for themselves…?