Petite Maman

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1:33

Petite Maman

PG

Released Apr 22, 2022

1h 12m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

97%

Tomatometer

219 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

Céline Sciamma continues to prove herself as one of the most accomplished and unpredictable contemporary French filmmakers with her follow up to PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, the uniquely emotional, PETITE MAMAN. Following the death of her beloved grandmother, 8-year-old Nelly accompanies her parents to her mother's childhood home to begin the difficult process of cleaning out its contents. As Nelly explores the house and nearby woods, she is immediately drawn to a neighbor her own age building a treehouse. What follows is a tender tale of childhood grief, memory and connection.

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Critics Consensus

Small in narrative scope but deeply impactful, Petite Maman is a delicate, powerfully acted meditation on grief.

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Christina Newland

iNews.co.uk

A quiet but powerful tale of grief, family love, and the mysterious world of childhood friendship.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 19, 2024

Full Review

Scout Tafoya

RogerEbert.com

Relentlessly touching...

Dec 23, 2022

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Alissa Wilkinson

Vox

Petite Maman is a pithy, gemlike film.

Aug 5, 2022

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Hector A. Gonzalez

The Movie Buff

Petite Maman is a sweet, tender, and fairytale-esque film that focuses on grief and escapism during your childhood. Even though it is only 72-minutes long, it is wholly enchanting and poignant.

Rated: B+

Sep 8, 2024

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Greg Carlson

Vague Visages

Sciamma’s handling of the interactions between the kids is as confident and as beautifully realized as the depiction of relationships in Water Lilies, Tomboy and Girlhood.

Nov 8, 2023

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

There are some hard adult truths, but the film is so filled with little notes of grace and tenderness that it leaves us with the sense that the world has much more wonder than sadness, more connection that isolation, more hope than cynicism.

Rated: 4/4

Oct 6, 2023

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Kyle M

Derivatively experienced wonder on one hand while an evaluated ode to childhood memories in mostly unemotional gestures as bland significance, but the other being the artistic redeeming quality in form of engaging ponder is seeing how simplistic the narrative has become in the situational angle as its own wonder. (B)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/10/24

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Jonah K

a simple and sweet concept in a short and sweet runtime.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/31/24

Full Review

Dave S

Petite Maman, Celine Sciamma’s follow-up to Portrait of a Lady on Fire, is a story about love, loss, and the relationships we forge with our parents, among other things. After the death of her grandmother, a young girl visits her grandmother’s home with her parents to help clean it out. While walking in the woods, she inexplicably meets the childhood version of her mother and a younger version of the grandmother who recently died. It is a quiet, sensitive parable bolstered by Sciamma’s restrained but effective direction, strong performances, especially from the two young girls, and a story that, while it really doesn’t make much sense, somehow manages to hit all of the right chords. Suspend disbelief, if possible, and enjoy the journey.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/09/24

Full Review

Alec B

An utter delight. Even though it is an extremely short movie, it does manage to capture the slowness of time for children and the ease that they accept a world that is more magical.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/21/24

Full Review

Helen M

Gorgeous film about the acceptance of childhood and that magic for them is as real as anything else. The girls playing Nelly and Marion are beautiful on screen. This is one of my favourite films in a long time. Especially how it frames grief through a child's eye. Magic.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/18/24

Full Review

Spencer P

Simple and deeply moving for viewers of all ages, "Little Mom" has emotional beauty in the way it positively portrays both the grieving process and hearing family stories.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/20/24

Full Review

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Céline Sciamma

Director

Nina Meurisse

La mère

Margot Abascal

La grand-mère

Stéphane Varupenne

Le père

Joséphine Sanz

Nelly

Gabrielle Sanz

Marion

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Petite maman: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Céline Sciamma continues to prove herself as one of the most accomplished and unpredictable contemporary French filmmakers with her follow up to PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, the uniquely emotional, PETITE MAMAN. Following the death of her beloved grandmother, 8-year-old Nelly accompanies her parents to her mother's childhood home to begin the difficult process of cleaning out its contents. As Nelly explores the house and nearby woods, she is immediately drawn to a neighbor her own age building a treehouse. What follows is a tender tale of childhood grief, memory and connection.

Director: Céline Sciamma
Producer: Bénédicte Couvreur
Screenwriter: Céline Sciamma
Distributor: NEON
Production Co: Ciné+, Canal+, Lilies Films, La Région Île-de-France, France 3 Cinéma, France Télévisions
Rating: PG (Some Thematic Elements|Brief Smoking)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 22, 2022, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA): $819.8K
Runtime: 1h 12m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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