TIFF 2021: Petite Maman Review
Nelly (Joséphine Sanz), an eight-year-old girl, has just lost her grandmother. Marion (Nina Meurisse), Nelly’s mother, wants to clear out the grandmother’s house, which is also the house she stayed in as a child. After spending some time in the house with Nelly and her father (Stéphane Varupenne), Marion decides to leave for a while. Nelly wanders in the woods around the house and befriends a young girl her age (Gabrielle Sanz). What follows is a surreal but cozy trip down memory lane.
The phrase “a trip down memory lane” takes on a more literal meaning than usual in Petite Maman (2021), except the lane is a path behind the grandmother’s house. Interestingly enough, this aspect of the film does not overpower everything else. The director, Céline Sciamma, reveals it in an elegant way. Sciamma does not focus on the surreal in terms of explaining to the viewer why it occurs. She simply uses it as a storytelling device. This choice makes sense because the story is told from a child’s perspective. When children play games in which magical things happen they do not stop to wonder why, doing so would ruin the flow of the game.
The bulk of the film involves Nelly playing games with her new friend. Playing these games in her mother’s childhood home and in the woods surrounding it gives Nelly some insight into her mother’s state of mind. Marion has understandably become distant, figuratively at first and then literally. Nelly’s curiosity about her mother’s state of mind is the main driving force of the film. The trips down memory lane are from Nelly’s perspective so what she encounters is informed by anecdotes told to her by her mother and father. Learning about her mother puts things into perspective for Nelly and also the viewer. Life is strange and random but can also move in predictable cycles. Perhaps Marion wondered about her mother’s state of mind when her grandmother died. Perhaps Nelly will have a child that will wonder about her state of mind when Marion dies. The grandmother’s house provides an anchor point around which the cycles can move. It is as if the memories are embedded in the grandmother’s house rather than in Marion’s mind and Nelly’s imagination.
As mentioned before, Petite Maman is a story told from a child’s perspective. This means the scope of the film is small and intimate. Even the film’s runtime is only 70 minutes. Sciamma directs the film’s intimacy with a deliberate hand. The viewer hears no music until a well-calculated introduction of a song towards the end of the film (composed by Jean-Baptiste de Laubier). The cinematography, done by Claire Mathon, blankets the film with a warmth that fits snugly. Everything feels controlled, but not stiff.
Petite Maman’s playful tone and premise will remind viewers of animated films like My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Mirai (2018), although the fantastical elements of the film are much less pronounced by comparison. The film’s lightness works well from the child’s perspective but is also partially detrimental. At times it does not feel emotionally substantial enough for a story that kicks off because of the death of a loved one. Thankfully, this feeling occurs only some of the time. On the whole, Petite Maman is a cute and charming film that is sure to warm even the coldest of hearts.