PETITE MAMAN

France 2020, 72 min Director Céline Sciamma

“Secrets aren’t always things we try to hide, there’s just no one to tell them to,” says 8-year-old Nelly to her new best friend. Left alone for long stretches of time after the death of her beloved grandmother, Nelly discovers a makeshift hut in the woods behind the house where her mother was raised and encounters a girl her own age to whom this magical playhouse belongs. As the children share their hopes, dreams, and secrets with each other, their deepening bond reveals the extraordinary nature of their connection. Petite Maman‘s tender and delicate sequences of make-believe and play are rendered fully believable and relatable by gifted sibling actors Gabrielle and Joséphine Sanz. In Céline Sciamma’s (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, MVFF 2019) achingly beautiful new film, the past and present magically merge to ease the sorrows of a grieving mother and daughter, and we are healed by its loving touch. –KD Davis

In French with English subtitles