A lovely little bit of magical realism about a lonely young girl who finds a way to interact with the child version of her own mother over the course of a sweet couple of days.
"Petite Maman" is only about an hour and 15 minutes long, but it packs a lot into that short running time. Mostly it's about the extent to which we do or don't understand our own parents, and the gaps that lack of understanding give to our lives. But it's also about the ways in which we fail our children by letting our personal demons from the past interfere with the here and now. This movie quietly but perfectly conveys the transitory quality of childhood, and the melancholy that comes from both no longer being a child yourself and from realizing that you might not have completely enjoyed your own children while you could. It made me want to immediately go hug my kids and spend time doing something with them.
Grade: A.
"Petite Maman" is only about an hour and 15 minutes long, but it packs a lot into that short running time. Mostly it's about the extent to which we do or don't understand our own parents, and the gaps that lack of understanding give to our lives. But it's also about the ways in which we fail our children by letting our personal demons from the past interfere with the here and now. This movie quietly but perfectly conveys the transitory quality of childhood, and the melancholy that comes from both no longer being a child yourself and from realizing that you might not have completely enjoyed your own children while you could. It made me want to immediately go hug my kids and spend time doing something with them.
Grade: A.