Film Review — Petite Maman (2021)
★★★★☆
A young girl forms an unlikely friendship in the wake of her maternal grandmother’s passing.
The follow-up to her acclaimed A Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma’s intriguingly titled Petite Maman might be a breeze to watch, but its sweet tale will warm the cockles of your heart and stay on your mind for a lot longer than its seventy-minute runtime.
Stripped back of any non-essentials — even the music is conspicuous in its absence— Sciamma’s minimalist approach still manages to pack plenty of substance and emotional heft as it tackles grief and family through the lens of youth. Key to this is the sister duo Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz, delivering, for my money, two of the finest performances by young actors in years.
The talented youngsters add credibility to an unlikely story that deftly straddles the fine line between genres. There’s whimsical fantasy, melancholic family drama, and even a distinctive feel of science fiction, albeit without any discernible science. It all combines to create an experience that you’ll probably be able to anticipate, but it still won’t dampen your enjoyment of it.
I’ll admit it didn’t have the same emotional impact on me as it has on many others, but that didn’t stop it from putting a big smile on my face. Petite Maman is masterfully crafted, beautifully acted, and will have even the dourest of viewers reaching out to call their mothers in the immediate aftermath.
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