Master filmmaker Céline Sciamma, the creator of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, is back with PETITE MAMAN, a captivating fairy tale that explores childhood and a mother-daughter relationship that crosses through time.
The film begins in a world of reality and the style is naturalistic. 8-year-old Nelly’s beloved grandmother has died and she is saying goodbye to all the older people in the facility she has come to know during her visits. Later, we see her helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her Mum, Marion, used to play and built the tree-house she’s heard so much about.
One day her mother abruptly leaves and Nelly is alone with her father. There’s a lovely bonding between dad and daughter but he has to continue with the adult work of clearing the house while Nelly is left free to play in the surrounding forest.
From here the film glides into a fairy tale feel, a time warp transition. She wanders through the woods and meets a girl her own age building a tree-house. Her name is Marion.
Marion takes Nelly to her house, identical to grandma’s house, inside and out. But could be presented as eerie and menacing, PETIT MAMAN takes a gentler approach.
Within the surreal, the very real joy of two girls playing together, getting messy in the kitchen, relishing and rejoicing in a kindergarten kingdom of kinship.
Like a wonderful bedtime story for adults, PETIT MAMAN is perfectly placed for a Mothers’ Day trip to the pictures.
National Release Date: May 5, 2022
Running Time: 72 minutes
Rating: PG