Petite Maman

Friday, May 13 until Thursday, May 19, 2022Yukon Theatre

Fri, May 13 2022 6:00pm

Sun, May 15 2022 6:00pm
Mon, May 16 2022 6:00pm
Tue, May 17 2022 6:00pm
Wed, May 18 2022 6:00pm
Thu, May 19 2022 6:00pm

Nelly, an 8-year-old girl, has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. One day, her mom abruptly leaves, and Nelly meets a girl her age as she's building a tree house in the woods.

In French with English subtitles.

Recommended ages 10+ "Tender French drama explores grief; brief smoking"

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire director Sciamma remains on fire. Her follow-up, Petite Maman, is a lovely and delicate lesson on processing big emotions in tiny packages. Within a slight running time, the movie follows 8-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) as she visits the French countryside with her parents to pack up her late grandmother’s belongings. Sadness abounds and the film stays at Nelly’s level, hanging on to her as she finds whatever is at her disposal to distract from it: a paddle ball, stones and the woods outside her mother’s childhood home that have an enchanting secret garden vibe to them. There, she encounters another eight-year-old, Marion (played by Sanz’s twin sister Gabrielle). They develop a friendship and understanding that is quaintly steeped in magic.

Like a child pouncing on a parent with a great, big, gentle bear hug, this one sneaks up on you. Subtitled. 72 min. NNNNN (Radheyan Simonpillai)