User Reviews

A Tender Bridge Across Time: Every Melancholic Mother Was Once a Playful Daughter250213 (3.3)Even without a grand message or a complex plot, I found myself weeping with a heart full of warmth throughout this film. It is a beautiful reminder that even a melancholic mother was once a mischievous little girl who loved her own mother dearly. The story follows 8-year-old Nelly, who has just lost her maternal grandmother. While visiting her mother Marion’s childhood home to clear out the belongings, Nelly explores the surrounding woods, searching for the "hut" her mother used to talk about. Her father, who has been Marion’s friend since childhood, helps with the move, but Marion, overwhelmed by grief and the heavy atmosphere of the past, leaves unexpectedly. Alone in the woods, Nelly encounters another 8-year-old girl named Marion, who is busy building a hut and preparing for an upcoming surgery.Nelly soon realizes she has stepped back in time to meet her mother as a child. She meets her grandmother in her younger years, walking with a cane due to the hereditary bone condition that Nelly knows all too well. This encounter allows Nelly to share intimate moments with her young mother, acting as friends and equals. They share secrets, talk about Marion's dream of becoming an actress, and even have a sleepover to celebrate Marion's 8th birthday. In a poignant moment, Nelly worries that her mother's adult melancholy is somehow her fault, but young Marion reassures her: "It’s not because of you that I’m sad." After seeing her father’s younger self and finally saying a proper goodbye to the grandmother she missed, Nelly returns to the present. When she reunites with her adult mother, she calls her "Marion," addressing her not just as a parent, but as a person she truly understands and loves. It is a simple, profound healing of the bond between generations.

Por que tão letárgico assim? Acredito que poderia facilmente ser um curta, mas o roteiro consegue extrair pequenos fragmentos de preciosidades das crianças, quase uma poesia feita aos olhos.

Yet another heartfelt movie from Céline Sciamma. I believe it's my favourite one of hers.

Fantastique! I enjoyed this quite a bit. I felt like there were some pacing issues and my interest began to wane a bit after the last night together, but all-in-all it was a lovely story and it's a testament to the filmmaking that I was able to understand exactly what was going on long before it is said aloud.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Talk about a cure for insomnia! Director Celine Sciamma's latest offering in the female bonding genre is so understated, underdeveloped, underexplained and underwhelming that it amounts to little more than a flat-out bore, even at a scant runtime of 100. In this story of grief and loss, viewers find a sensitive eight-year-old suddenly in the company of a mysterious peer who seems uncannily familiar -- and whose identity is easy to figure out without the needlessly long, stretched out, inconsequential relationship that develops between them. And, once the big reveal is made, the story doesn't get any more interesting from there, with the duo engaging in all manner of everyday pedestrian activities that are played for being more significant and profound than they truly are. How this navel-contemplating exercise in minimalist subtlety managed to amass such critical acclaim is genuinely beyond me. However, if you can somehow manage to stay awake for this sleeper (and not in the good sense of the word), congratulations -- you deserve a medal for successfully sticking out this pretentious, self-important snooze fest.

Very boring. Huge downstep from directors previous movie. The entire thing is silent and bland, without any music between scenes and the child actress deliver their lines so deprived of any expression, it becomes a snore fest. The story never comes to a emotional hook or revelation, it felt like a huge waste of time. Maybe this could work with better casting and production, as there is an interesting idea in meeting your petite maman, but as it is the movie is hard to recommend.

This film is an exquisite emotional experience - the profound contained within the pedestrian.

After 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire,' Céline Sciamma returns with another intimate portrait of love between women, but this time from a different angle. The story follows Nelly, a small girl that accompanies his young mother to empty her grandma's house, who just died. There, in the woods, she encounters another girl, who may have an unexpected connection with her. 'Petite Maman' may not have the raw force of his previous effort; still, the sensibility in its characters transcends its short duration and the apparent simplicity of the story. And what is really striking about the film is the acting of the two little girls, who, of course, are twin sisters in real life. Sciamma takes advantage of this bond by posing a fantastical but very intriguing concept that I don't want to spoil. All in all, 'Petite Maman' proves that Sciamma is a master when it comes to transmitting pain with nothing but a few words.

The magic **** filmmaker is to take something ordinary and make something amazing out of it. In just 70 minutes, Céline Sciamma delivers a well-rounded experience. And the best and most important thing is that the journey that the director proposes does not try to be far-fetched or some kind of existential fantasy. The idea shown in her young protagonist is so basic that even a young audience could understand it. Perhaps it's all in the mind of the little girl, but that doesn't detract one iota from the magic on which this little story works. And after all, if that's what you're going to question about this film, you've completely missed the point.

This is a charming, imaginative/escapist watch, depicting a young girls take on the situations she comes across at her young age, including her mum suffering grief at the loss of a relative. I thought it was quite touching how the mother and child interact, their bond and how emotionally frank some of the discussions are between parent, relative, friend and child. It is quite touching at times. There's a charming innocence to it and the lack of clear direction somehow adds to the intrigue about what the young girl is pursuing. I really enjoyed it and so I'd recommend it, yes.

Kids on cinema remain a riddle yet to be solved and if you ask me, only Jacques Doillon came close to actually portraying what the world feels like when you're small, in the underrated gem 'Ponette', circa 1996. Here Sciamma offers only half a movie -and not just because of its running time- packed with gender symbolisms that probably lean towards her personal story rather than some universal meaning. All you are left with in the end is a scene of utter beauty in the lake, as the rest of the ideas explored, mostly fall short or remain somewhat unuttered.