Petite maman

With her latest film Céline Sciamma revisits a theme which has preoccupied much of her work – moments of childhood transition. But while, like “Water Lilies”, “Tomboy” and her screenplay for “My Life As A Courgette”, “Petite Maman” is told through the eyes of its child protagonist, there is a minor key harmonic to the storytelling – the tacit presence of an adult perspective acknowledging the intensely felt distance which can arise in the relationship between a daughter and her mother.

There’s a fairytale quality to this story of a little girl who, following the death of her grandmother, meets another girl in the woods. Like its dappled forested backdrop, the film is a thing of pensive beauty rather than volatile drama.

Wendy Ide, Screen International