Petite maman
With her latest film Céline Sciamma revisits a theme which has preoccupied much of her work – moments of childhood transition. But while, like “Water Lilies”, “Tomboy” and her screenplay for “My Life As A Courgette”, “Petite Maman” is told through the eyes of its child protagonist, there is a minor key harmonic to the storytelling – the tacit presence of an adult perspective acknowledging the intensely felt distance which can arise in the relationship between a daughter and her mother.
There’s a fairytale quality to this story of a little girl who, following the death of her grandmother, meets another girl in the woods. Like its dappled forested backdrop, the film is a thing of pensive beauty rather than volatile drama.
Wendy Ide, Screen International
Log in to add film to shortlist
Céline Sciamma (snd 1980)
Naissance des pieuvres (Water Lilies, PÖFF 2007), Tomboy (PÖFF 2011), Bande de filles (Girlhood, 2014), Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Põleva tütarlapse portree, PÖFF 2019), Petit maman (2021)