Nobody watching this film can failed to be touched, moved, transported and transformed by it. Others here have already expressed the enormous power of the movie, and particularly of its star, Victoire Thivisol. If you're reading this to see if you should watch it, I'd say, drop everything and go buy it so you can watch it over and over. But buy a case of Kleenex (TM) too, you're going to need them!

As I watched the movie, I had the impression that director Jacques Doillon had simply found a real-life tragedy and somehow followed the participants through it with his camera. Nothing in this film gives you the impression of having been written, scripted, staged, produced. It is all so completely natural that you experience first hand the pain, the emotional agony of Ponette, as if she were your own daughter, your own sister, even your own self.

It is absolutely amazing to see the star of Ponette as she acts. This child appears to be about four years-old and gives an incredible performance. The only problem is, that the script itself is a bit flat and my wife and I kept wondering "where is the father--why did he abandon this little girl?!" This and many other unanswered questions bothered me throughout the film. In addition, although the subject matter is novel (a very young child searching to understand her mother's death),it just stopped being interesting after a while. Then, when the movie did change tone at the very end, it became pretty weird, though not entirely unsatisfying. Overall, the acting is fine but it just didn't arouse my interest.

It's evident and it deserves to be mentioned. When Jacques Doillon films children (un Sac De Billes, 1975) or teenagers (la Drôlesse, 1979, Le Petit Criminel, 1990),it's what he does best and especially when he pores over the dark sides of childhood and adolescence like rejection, misunderstanding, lack of love or the death of dear close relatives. "Ponette" revolves around the latest of these things. This cute 4 year old little girl lost her mother (Marie Trintignant,a sinister omen for her tragic fate some years later) and is persuaded she will see her again. So, she embarks on a long waiting which makes her father (Xavier Beauvois) and the grown-ups incensed. Her aunt (Claire Nebout) tries to provide her solace with the help of religious creeds but does she really believe in them? At the start of a new school year, she is sent at boarding school with her cousins and in a small church, asks God to talk to her mother. Then, in a graveyard in front of her mother's grave, a miracle happens.

The first thing that springs to mind after the viewing is that you would like to hail Doillon for the remarkable work he has provided with the children. He said that he listened many conversations between children for months before rewriting them in dialogs and that's the main reason why his film has a larger than life vibe. Sometimes, you even wonder if you don't watch a documentary. Working with children on a film set is very hard to do but it's evident here that Doillon did everything possible to prepare his very young actors mentally to his cinematographic demands. So, little Victoire Thivisol and her partners really live their texts and it's the world perceived with children's eyes that is one of the real motors of the film.

In another extent, Doillon walks away with the honors of a tricky topic: how can the life of a beloved human being can be perceived by her children? The Scottish Peter Mullan will bring his own answer in his moody "Orphans" (1997) and here, Ponette thinks she will see her mother again because she is seduced by the religious tenets her aunt tells to her. And when her mother appears beside her in the graveyard, it's a real foray into the fantastic without the unpleasant impression of a break in tone because the little girl is the only one to experiment this. During their short moment together her mother tells her: "I won't be able to stay with you but before I definitely leave, promise me one thing: don't complain, savor life as much as you can". We aren't very far from one of the key lines in John Frankenheimer's "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962): "the first duty of life is to live" and it's the message Doillon left in his work. Ponette is bound to have understood the lesson and to follow this piece of advice. Perhaps you will keep it in your heart too after the viewing.

So, from a murky starting point, Doillon manages to create a piece of work with a startling realism and an uplifting message. If you're sensitive to these features, "Ponette" will leave you elated. Highly recommended and I would advise you to watch it several times because very young children are often difficult to decipher in their lines. So, be patient and you will be rewarded.