Oct. 12: Petite Maman

Wednesday, October 12, 2022
7 pm @ Galaxy Cinemas, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Director: Céline Sciamma
France 2021
French; 72 minutes
Rated: PG for some thematic elements and brief smoking

Following the death of her beloved grandmother, 8-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) accompanies her parents to her mother’s childhood home to begin the difficult process of cleaning out its contents. As she explores the house and nearby woods, Nelly is drawn to a neighbour her own age (real-life sister Gabrielle Sanz) building a treehouse. What follows is a tender tale of childhood, grief, memory, and connection.

Céline Sciamma’s beautiful fairytale reverie is … simple, elegant and very moving. I fell instantly under its spell. Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Petite Maman is what every film should be: powerfully, even arrestingly original; grounded in emotional truth; hyper-specific; deeply universal; strange; mesmerizing; and not a minute longer than necessary. Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post

plays out like a masterful short story, just visually heightened enough – with its blue shadows and warm autumn reds – to gain the status of a fable. Margo Harrison, Seven Days