Petite Maman Review

Petite Maman is the latest film from the celebrated writer/director Céline Sciamma. Her most recent offering was a touching family drama.

Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) is an 8-year-old girl whose grandmother has just passed away. Her family goes to her grandmother’s house to out sort her things. During their stay in the countryside Nelly befriends, Marion (Gabrielle Sanz), a girl she meets in the woods.

Petite Maman is French for ‘Little Mom.’ This revealed the true nature of the film because Petite Maman was in reality a time travel tale. Instead of being an action film or complex sci-fi piece, Petite Maman was more in line with a story like The Time Traveller’s Wife and When Marnie Was There because it was a character-driven film with a magical realist element. It was a story about a girl connecting with her mother when she was the girl’s age and gave Nelly one last chance to spend time with her grandmother.

Because the film was character-driven there were some wonderfully powerful moments. There was a realistic moment when Nelly explores Marion’s house and realises she was in the past. She was freaked out. One of favourite moments in the film was when Nelly asked her grandmother (Margo Abascal) to put on a tie. It allowed Nelly to spend a final moment with her grandmother even though her grandmother doesn’t realise Nelly is her relative.

Petite Maman’s story allowed the film to explore themes of friendship, childhood, and grief. Nelly got to play with her mother as a child, by doing things like making a den in the woods and role play. It was naturalistic with its portrayal of children interacting and playing. Nelly and the Adult Marion (Nina Meurisse) were both struggling with grief after their loss. As Nelly said she wished she had a chance to give her grandmother a proper goodbye and the Adult Marion struggles were so bad she ran away, leaving Nelly’s Father (Stéphane Varupenne) to care for the child.

Nelly does reveal to Marion that she’s from the future. This led to Marion asking questions about her future and having some existential musing. Whilst Marion does ask about the future, neither Marion nor Nelly dare make any effort to change the future. It was more an issue about Marion wondering what it was like to grow up, not changing her fate.

The film was blessed with two talented young actresses with Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz. They were twins so there was no problem for them to act friendly to each other, and they were able to play more emotionally complicated elements like Nelly’s grief and Marion processing Nelly’s reveal. However, because the characters were played by twins it led to the question of which girl was which?

Petite Maman was a film with low stakes. It was seemingly about two girls having three days to bond and play together. Low stakes can be a death knell for a story because it’s hard to be emotionally invested, yet Sciamma defies this because she made a charming film told from a child’s point of view.

Sciamma and her team were able to give Petite Maman a timeless quality. It was a time travel story but there were no specific details to show the time period. They managed this by having the film in a rural setting and the autumnal conditions meant characters had to wear practical clothing.

Petite Maman was a wonderfully sweet and enduring film about friendship in unusual circumstances. It was a lovely film that was only 72 minutes long.