Petite Maman is a very understated, reflective, and almost meditative film.

Celine Sciamma uses her stripped back and beautiful film making to highlight the characters and their relationships in such sensitive way.

We follow a young girl dealing with grief and loss, which is explored through a poignantly played out time travel scenario.

It's a very short film, but with a lot of emotion, power, and humour packed in.

The two young leads are great, and with not much of a supporting cast at all they had to be.

A beautiful story with beautiful direction. Lovely.

Watch this one with a box of tissues. A big one. Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) has lost her grandma. Saying goodbye at the nursing home, it's a solemn start, but I swear if you're not also smiling within 5 minutes, check your pulse. Staying with her mother and father in the old family home in the French countryside, as they clear the place. It's autumnal, reflective, melancholic. The house although sparse looking, is full of memories for mum, and exciting discoveries for Nelly. Most notably Marion (Gabrielle Sanz, yes related),who she meets building a hut out of branches in the woods around the house. Marion isn't just any girl. She's special. She's magical. Giving Nelly an insight to help her grieve and find out things about herself. It's wonderful. Truly. Both the girls are fantastic on screen and the whole thing looks calmly beautiful. Nelly knows something isn't quite right, but it's not eerie, it's rated U after all. It doesn't dumb things down for a younger audience either though. It's intelligent, sophisticated, perfectly paced. I won't say any more than that. Director Céline Sciamma has created something quite fantastic. With a final scene that left me smiling through the tears.

"Petite maman" is a French live action movie from 2021 originally and it could very well be that this film is among the shortest movies you have watched all year if we exclude actual short films because the duration here is slightly under 75 minutes. Quite unusual, but felt right overall. The big name here is probably writer and director Céline Sciamma. She made solid waves recently with a lesbian drama and that fiilm was nominated for a BAFTA and so was this one here, even if the subjects could not be any more different. The only thing in common is that focus is almost exclusively on female characters. Given the fact that the last name of the two child actresses is Sanz, I think that they are actually sisters, probably twins. They both did fine, even if I must especially praise Joséphine who won me over quite a bit. Surprised to see they do not have any previous performances listed. I think the future could be bright there. My favorite acting moment from Sanz was maybe a really small one. I am talking about the moment when she pulls on a little thread or rope or not sure what the right word is, but you will know what I mean when you see the film. I really, really liked what she did with her eyes there. That general softness briefly disappears and is replaced by sweet determination that she wants to have it, but it is still in a playful way. A bit like a cat would play with a ball of wool. I am jumping right into the action here because I do not have a lot more to talk about the basics. Of course, the awards recognition is self-explanatory and I wonder if this film perhaps could have scored an Oscar nomination with Titane scoring a lot at other ceremonies, but coming short at the Academy Awards. Or if you take it verbally, that film came even shorter than the shortlist. Big surprise.

As for this one here, I also really liked the scene inside the car early on. That was so sweet. I mean the exact opening how the main character says goodbye to all the elderly ladies was nice too, but how the girl feeds her mother with these peanut snacks (that are unknown in America btw.),then holds a little juice pack or juice box right the way so her mother can drink out of it and eventually hugs her neck was something special. That was done really nicely with the camera position. We never see the girl, just her hands/arms, but there is some great warmth to that scene and the connection could not be any stronger and you can see the happiness in the mother's eyes and smile. And you literally feel you are her and being taken care of so gently. The rest of the scenes I really liked involved pretty much the two girls you see on the photo here on imdb. I will just mention them one after the other. When they are playing with the soup was maybe not the cleanest moment, but still pretty funny. One scene that summarizes their connection accurately was when they are acting this scene with the inspector and lady. How they briefly return to their real selves and one girl tells another that she would love to be an actress and that it is her dream and the other encourages her in a really sweet way that she is talented and believes she can do it. Even the way they wave hands at each other outside on one occasion was somehow charming and full of delight. How it's one girl's birthday and she asks her friend (and another character) to sing for her again because she so enjoys the moment. I still think Sciamma does a really good job with the writing. Even if the exact words of the kids felt smart, they still felt authentic. I have seen many filmmakers struggle with stuff like this. Not so here.

It is not too easy for me to find something to criticize. Maybe the entire idea of suspense I could have done completely without. It also would have been a nice film on a new friendship between two young girls who quickly form a really special bond. But there was some mystery here, like we can guess there could be something odd going on when one character has the same name like another's grandmother for example. Eventually, you never know what is exactly going on and it is left for speculation. Is it really another girl and they are just playing with their gigantic imagination? Is there an actual time travel component in here somewhere and these two are indeed mother and daughter as the title suggests. Is maybe the other girl really exclusively made-up in the protagonist's mind? Also an option. I mean the father said hi to her too, so he must have seen her, but this greeting the girl also could have invented. Who knows. I still think the final explanation is the least likely one. It is not too important anyway. No explanation takes away from the film's strengths. Everybody will have another approach here what actually happened I am sure. I also quite liked the way the film closes then when we see mother (as a grown-up again) and daughter reunited in some sweet manner. Not just what they do, also what they say makes this moment one of the best from the entire film. It surely closes on a high note. Maybe without the aforementioned mystery aspect, I would have given two stars more here and I am pretty happy that this film really scored a great amount of awards recognition at all kinds of events. The more people see it, the better. A bit of a pity that Sanz was not considered for the BAFTA Rising Star Award, especially as they were the only really big awards celebration that did not ignore this film otherwise. But it's cool.

I am always curious about new French films coming out and I was absolutely not disappointed here and instead glad that I watched. Naturally, given the main characters, this is also a film to watch for younger audiences with their parents. Maybe girls rather than boys. But also the childless grown-ups can have a really good time and can certainly give this film a chance. For me there was never any shadow of a doubt that I would give (at least) three stars out of five here and consequently a positive recommendation. Go watch as well and maybe you will also see something awesome in some other moments I haven't mentioned yet like when the dad loses his beard, when the girls build something outdoors, when they joke a bit around with too much milk, when they go out on a boat trip or when they comfort each other that a surgery will go alright. The latter moment made me think that she knew in her mind everything would be good because her mother was still around in the now. Just my explanation. That is really it now. Stop reading and start watching unless you haven't already. I think this is also a film fairly suitable for a rewatch. Maybe if I ever get to see it again, I will increase my rating. Definitely won't deduct anything. Charming title as well. (tt13204490)