Do you want to meet the childhood version of your mother? You might want to consider that one carefully before you answer. Even if you weren’t in jeopardy of destroying your own existence through space-time meddling, there are still thing you can’t unsee and unfeel. I’ll leave it at that.
Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) is just your average eight-your-old hospice mascot. Or at least that’s how the opening feels. Nelly has just had to say “goodbye” to her grandmother and says “goodbye” to everybody else on the block while she’s there. It’s
adorable –if a little farfetched- that the girl will miss the old folks more than the old folks will miss the girl. Maybe France is a little different than I picture it.
The family retreats to the wooded home where mom and grandma lived; it’s time to pack it all up for it no longer has use. Mom (Nina Meurisse) alternates between nostalgia and depression. Nelly goes looking for a structure in the woods her mother might have made years and years ago. Well, gosh, there’s the bed fort now – I’m sorry, what exactly was mom trying to make? It looks like a failed tepee.
Doesn’t matter. Hey, there’s another eight-year-old girl there … and she looks a lot like Nelly (like a scary amount a lot) … and her name is “Marion,” which is also the name of Nelly’s mom. Quite a coincidence, huh? Truth be told, Nelly clues in almost instantly. Good for her. And now she gets to spend quality time with peer-mom and more time
with grandma. Neat trick.
Petite Maman isn’t quite frivolous so much as light. I wouldn’t call it “empty,” exactly – I wanted to see the fantasy; I wanted to see how Nelly and Marion got along. Would eight-year-old you get along with eight-year-old version of your mom? Hey, why wouldn’t you? It’s an attractive fantasy to be sure, and there’s a love-beyond-the-grave angle as well … and yet, one cannot help thinking “this is two girls playing ‘house’ .” There isn’t much more there. This is the kind of film you’ll read into if you need to; is that good enough for a watch? Only you know the answer to that question.
A girl meets the child version of her mom
And handles it with surprising aplomb
Don’t mean to be weird
Yet much better than feared
Because this could have been a sci-fi romcom
Not Rated, 72 Minutes
Director: Céline Sciamma
Writer: Céline Sciamma
Genre: Weird stuff you think might be cool, but if it happened in reality, you’d be horrified
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Estranged parents, children
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who would be freaked out by meeting their parent at their age
