Petite Maman

Name: Petite Maman
Genre: Drama
Released: December 3, 2021
Duration: 72 min
Rating: 93
Cast: Florès Cardo, Gabrielle Sanz, Guylène Péan, Josée Schuller, Joséphine Sanz

2021

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 37 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 48 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 48 Ratings

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Petite Maman

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Movie Details & Credits

Neon | Release Date: December 3, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: Florès Cardo, Gabrielle Sanz, Guylène Péan, Josée Schuller, Joséphine Sanz, Margot Abascal, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne

Summary: Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her same age building a treehouse.

Director: Céline Sciamma

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 72 min

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Critic Reviews

100

The Observer (UK) Mark Kermode

Nov 22, 2021

Petite Maman is short and sweet, yet fearlessly profound. A mix of fairytale, ghost story and rites-of-passage journey, this is at heart a cinematic parable about healing intergenerational wounds, about breaching the barriers that inevitably grow between parents and children. Read full review

100

RogerEbert.com Odie Henderson

Apr 22, 2022

What’s most refreshing about Petite Maman is that it doesn’t play coy with its magic, nor does it separate it from the sadder, darker reality that surrounds it. Read full review

100

Karen Gordon

May 6, 2022

There is magic in French writer/director Céline Sciamma’s beautiful new film Petite Maman. Running just 72 minutes, this spare and gentle little film has an emotional core that feels true and authentic. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Mar 4, 2021

The result is at once both the most ordinary and most enchanted thing that Sciamma has made so far, a wise and delicate wisp of a movie. Read full review

Slashfilm Hoai-Tran Bui

Nov 16, 2021

Petite Maman is richer in its simplicity; a lovely slice-of-life tale that knows that loss is so enormous and monumental that we can only linger with it for brief moments. Read full review

Josh Larsen

Dec 15, 2021

Be careful with Petite Maman; the movie is small and quiet, but if you let your guard down, it might devastate you. Read full review

Mark Feeney

Apr 28, 2022

Petite Maman feels more like an extended short story. That’s only in part owing to its having a runtime of just 72 minutes. It also has a deceptive uneventfulness and a sense of everything being casually . . . just so. Read full review

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User Reviews

krlnben

Apr 15, 2023

Yet another heartfelt movie from Céline Sciamma. I believe it's my favourite one of hers.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

foreignfilmfan

Apr 28, 2022

This film is an exquisite emotional experience - the profound contained within the pedestrian.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

AncientAmber

Jun 22, 2022

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So I mostly loved the film.

I feel like getting some criticisms off my chest though. Firstly, for me, the "Nelly" child actor wasn't great. She wasn't actively annoying thank god, but despite the French language I noticed she was kinda flatly delivering lines that should have had more variation. She also didn't act with her eyes and walked like she knew she was being filmed. I'm very sensitive to bad child acting though, so I'm like primed to notice these things, unfortunately.

I also noticed that some of the writing was a bit weird. The film does that thing where kids say things kids would never say - e.g. "you didn't invent my sadness".

I only mention all this because in spite of these things I found the film very effective and moving. The Dad actor was actually great and exuded warmth. The scenes where the girls were clearly basically left to play and forget they were being filmed worked fantastically.

By the last third of the film when petite mamon learns what's going on I was fully emotionally engaged. The line "I'm already thinking about you" absolutely sent me.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

bertobellamy

Apr 7, 2022

After 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire,' Céline Sciamma returns with another intimate portrait of love between women, but this time from a different angle.

The story follows Nelly, a small girl that accompanies his young mother to empty her grandma's house, who just died. There, in the woods,After 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire,' Céline Sciamma returns with another intimate portrait of love between women, but this time from a different angle.

The story follows Nelly, a small girl that accompanies his young mother to empty her grandma's house, who just died. There, in the woods, she encounters another girl, who may have an unexpected connection with her.

'Petite Maman' may not have the raw force of his previous effort; still, the sensibility in its characters transcends its short duration and the apparent simplicity of the story.

And what is really striking about the film is the acting of the two little girls, who, of course, are twin sisters in real life. Sciamma takes advantage of this bond by posing a fantastical but very intriguing concept that I don't want to spoil. All in all, 'Petite Maman' proves that Sciamma is a master when it comes to transmitting pain with nothing but a few words.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

IntakeCinema

Jul 5, 2022

Fantastique! I enjoyed this quite a bit. I felt like there were some pacing issues and my interest began to wane a bit after the last night together, but all-in-all it was a lovely story and it's a testament to the filmmaking that I was able to understand exactly what was going on longFantastique! I enjoyed this quite a bit. I felt like there were some pacing issues and my interest began to wane a bit after the last night together, but all-in-all it was a lovely story and it's a testament to the filmmaking that I was able to understand exactly what was going on long before it is said aloud.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

ghostkilla

Jan 17, 2022

Kids on cinema remain a riddle yet to be solved and if you ask me, only Jacques Doillon came close to actually portraying what the world feels like when you're small, in the underrated gem 'Ponette', circa 1996. Here Sciamma offers only half a movie -and not just because of its running time-Kids on cinema remain a riddle yet to be solved and if you ask me, only Jacques Doillon came close to actually portraying what the world feels like when you're small, in the underrated gem 'Ponette', circa 1996. Here Sciamma offers only half a movie -and not just because of its running time- packed with gender symbolisms that probably lean towards her personal story rather than some universal meaning. All you are left with in the end is a scene of utter beauty in the lake, as the rest of the ideas explored, mostly fall short or remain somewhat unuttered.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

VonSeux

May 1, 2022

Very boring. Huge downstep from directors previous movie. The entire thing is silent and bland, without any music between scenes and the child actress deliver their lines so deprived of any expression, it becomes a snore fest. The story never comes to a emotional hook or revelation, it feltVery boring. Huge downstep from directors previous movie. The entire thing is silent and bland, without any music between scenes and the child actress deliver their lines so deprived of any expression, it becomes a snore fest. The story never comes to a emotional hook or revelation, it felt like a huge waste of time. Maybe this could work with better casting and production, as there is an interesting idea in meeting your petite maman, but as it is the movie is hard to recommend.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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