Petit Maman: Film Review

Cast: Joséphine Sanz, Nina Meurisse and Stéphane Varupenne
Director: Céline Sciamma

Girlhood and Portrait of a Woman on Fire's director Céline Sciamma returns to the big screen with a shorter film than previous outings - but one that still packs a quiet power.

It's the story of 8 year old Nelly, who's just lost her beloved grandmother and who's saying goodbye to the rest home residents where she lived as the film begins. Taken with her parents to clean out the childhood home, Nelly meets a girl her age as she builds a tree house in the woods.

They form an instant connection - but there's something deeper and more mysterious going on with Nelly's new friend soon needing hospital treatment and time for their friendship running out.

There's a smaller scale to this story, but Petit Maman has an astoundingly good lead in its child actors, who convey more than enough of a range of emotions from joy to trying to understand loss.

Petit Maman is a film of simple silences, natural sounds, and great poise from Sciamma; it carefully weaves a story that some may find wanting in parts, and others will be gripped by, as it examines grief and our relationships with the past.

But more specifically, Petit Maman is about the conversations with our closest family members, or ourselves - it spends time building a world that doesn't appear to cheat itself out of with easy answers, nor does it tie itself up in superstitions and hokum.

By keeping the film intimate, and quietly reflective, Sciamma's made a universal story of grief that everyone can engage with - and it's all the more enticing for it.