Céline Sciamma has always been interested in stories about youth. Before her breakout hit Portrait of a Lady on Fire, she directed the coming-of-age films Water Lillies, Tomboy, and Girlhood. Sciamma delves further into childhood with her new film Petite Maman, starring 8-year-old twins Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz. Petite Maman is completely family-friendly and makes a good introduction to live-action foreign and arthouse cinema for kids.
The one thing that could hamper kids' -- and some adults' -- enjoyment would be the movie's leisurely pacing. Petite Maman isn't a long movie, running a mere 70 minutes, but it is a slow burn. The plot is simple and proves to be incredibly powerful in the end, but the movie takes its time establishing its psychological reality and its light fantasy twist. Like Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Sciamma makes this low-key build-up quieter than most movies would, completely forgoing non-diegetic background music and saving its two moments of diegetic music for key scenes. It's a style of filmmaking that works best on the big screen, without distractions.
Of course, there's already evidence that kids can embrace slower, quieter cinematic storytelling: the success of Studio Ghibli is proof of that. Sciamma has said that the films of Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki were a major influence on Petite Maman, and it's easy to find Ghibli parallels in the film's observational nature, sense of cuteness, and its plot points. It might not have the marketable creatures of My Neighbor Totoro, but it contains the same playfulness and respect for nature and kids' emotional intelligence. It feels like Hiromasa Yonebayashi's two Ghibli films, The Secret World of Arrietty and When Marnie Was There, could have been narrative influences, as well as Mamoru Hosoda's Ghibli-esque Mirai.
Describing the specifics of Petite Maman's storyline without spoilers is complicated because the general plot will be fairly obvious to adult viewers from the start but the movie takes its time when it comes to directly state what's already implied. As such, either everything or nothing about the movie could be deemed a spoiler. Even the title is a pretty big hint as to something that's probably too obvious early on to be considered a "twist," but still isn't directly stated by the characters until over halfway through the film.
In Petite Maman, protagonist Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) is spending time at the house of her deceased grandmother (Margot Abascal). Nelly's dad (Stéphane Varupenne) is always around to be supportive, but her mother (Nina Meurisse) is depressed and overwhelmed with grief and responsibility. Nelly herself is facing grief in her own way and is sad she never got the chance to properly say goodbye to her grandma. Exploring the forest around the grandma's house, Nelly comes across a tree fort her mom made as a child and meets another girl named Marion (Gabrielle Sanz) with whom she quickly becomes friends.
The Sanz twins are absolutely adorable and give incredibly naturalistic performances. Their connection will transport adult viewers back to a time when friendships began in an instant. It's hard to even say how much of their performances are "acting" versus how much is just their real-life sibling bond shining through on-screen. Since they seem to be identical twins, it can be a little hard to tell them apart in some shots, but their different costuming and the clarity of their dialogue prevents Petit Maman from becoming confusing to follow.
Sciamma is a genius at putting together incredible endings, and Petite Maman's ending is, in its own way, just as stunning as the opera scene at the end of Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Given the grief and family elements of the story, you might already expect something emotional, but its ultimate messages are just so beautifully presented that they will absolutely make viewers cry. Like the Ghibli classics it draws inspiration from, Petite Maman uses elements of fantasy to tell a story that, in every other regard, feels incredibly real. Your kids could do a lot worse when it comes to introductions to art cinema, and patient viewers of all ages will be rewarded.
Petite Maman will stream on MUBI in the United Kingdom starting Nov. 19 and be released in theaters in the United States later this year by Neon.