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My Little Princess

2011 1h 45m Drama List
Reviews 48% Audience Score 100+ Ratings
Photographer Irina Ionesco (Isabelle Huppert) takes provocative photos of models and her young daughter. Read More Read Less

Audience Reviews

View All (13) audience reviews
Audience Member A relevant, but ultimately failed film. Eva Ionesco has made a film loosely base on her own childhood in which her mother photographed her in dramatically controversial ways. Most likely, because this "art" was done in the mix of the cultural confusion of the 1970's -- Ionesco's mother's work was accepted as "art" and challenges of "child porn" were never culturally addressed. While similar art was created in the US with Brooke Shields --- that work carried an uncomfortable innocence despite courting controversy. Ionesco's work was anything but innocent and remains to many (including myself) perverse and repugnant child exploitations. And, here lies the challenge for the adult Eva Ionesco: to make a film about the exploitation of a child without actually exploiting the child actor playing her. It is a conundrum beyond Eva Ionesco's reach either because she lacks to skill or she is too emotionally vested to figure out how to do it. Isabelle Huppert does her best and manages to avoid falling into the trap of "camp" due to some of ways in which her dialog is scripted. Anamaria Vartolomei as this version of the filmmaker proves a gifted child actor. Another plus is Jeanne Lapoirie's cinematography which is lush and captures the era of the time. However, in the end, this is a very interesting cinematic error. For those interested in the subject matter from the perspective of the controversial 1970's photographic work's subject or fans of Huppert, it is well worth seeing. It is too bad that Ionesco could not find a way to make what could have been a strong cultural commentary regarding child exploitation rise above the restraint result that is created. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Eva Ionesco faces a real challenge in bringing this very personal story to the screen: How to make a movie about the exploitation and sexualized abuse of a child to the screen without exploiting or abusing the child actor? She almost manages to succeed. I'd rather a filmmaker err on the side of caution to avoid exploiting a child actor -- and that is what Ionesco has done. Sadly, the film is missing the bitter bite it needs. Isabelle Huppert is brilliant in the role and saves the film from failing. When she instructs her daughter to look into her camera as if looking into the evil of Hell -- it is truly chilling. No masterpiece, but worth seeing. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Quite disturbing for the most part, and really fully engaging thoughout. Not soemthing I would recommend to anyone though. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Hmm... wanna do portrait photography Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member There is a reason behind anything. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member notre film adaptee de faits reels huppert est efficace comme dhab et la ptite assez bluffante Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews
My Little Princess

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Photographer Irina Ionesco (Isabelle Huppert) takes provocative photos of models and her young daughter.
Director
Eva Ionesco
Producer
François Marquis, François-Xavier Frantz
Screenwriter
Eva Ionesco, Marc Cholodenko, Philippe Le Guay
Production Co
Les Productions Bagheera, France 2 Cinéma
Genre
Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Runtime
1h 45m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)