MARION: I'm already thinking of you.
Hello everyone! Welcome to this week's post about Celine Sciamma's latest feature, Petite Maman! I'm particularly excited about this one because I got to see the film earlier than most of the viewers. Although not as grand as her previous feature Portrait of a Lady on Fire, this time Sciamma tells a minimalistic story that can easily resonate with the audience.
The film tells the story of Nelly (8), who has recently lost her grandma and is staying at her mother's childhood home to help her clean out. Petite Maman is, in essence, a time travel movie. As Nelly wanders around the forest and seeks company, one day she befriends a girl at her age, Marion, who will later turn out to be her mom at the age of eight.
Instead of focusing on the touristic aspects like most of the other time travel movies, Petite Maman follows a different path that urges the audience to question how would we get along if we were to meet our parents as a child. I admired this small idea that constructed the story and how effortlessly touching it turned out to evolve in the movie. On a side note, this new perspective on time travel reminded me of La Belle Epoque (2019), a small French romantic comedy that I highly recommend!
Let's talk more about the characters, starting with Nelly, our protagonist of eight year old. Throughout the film, we see Nelly in complete solitude as she's used to being the only child and receiving almost no attention from her parents. She connects with Marion instantly because their lives and family structures are all too similar to each other. One of my favourite parts was when Nelly tells the truth behind keeping a secret:" Secrets aren't always things we try to hide. There's just no one to tell them to." This line alone shows how she seeks more attention and care from the people surrounding her.
Moving on to Marion who is Nelly's best friend and also her mother. Even though Nelly and Marion's lives are very similar to each other, one crucial difference between them is Marion's risky health condition. She has to undergo a critical operation in three days, and in some parts of the film we see her expressing some concerns about it. Although we know from the future that Marion’s health condition will be perfectly fine, the film's tale makes us believe that Marion is just a kid who's anxious about her future.
Slowly finishing the post, I'm giving this movie a big 9 out of 10. With its pleasing sights, smooth pace, and natural performances, this is one of the best movies I've seen this year so far. I'd also like to recommend the original track of the film co-written by Celine Sciamma herself!
Thank you for reading this far, and you're always welcome to leave a comment below or send me your suggestions to: moviesatdawn@gmail.com! You can also follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr; all with the same nickname moviesatdawn. Thanks for being here and I’ll see you next week!
Celine Sciamma: "(...) And me, this is really the place where I enjoy making films. They’re like little machines that help us to live."
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