The Hedgehog

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David Lee K Le Hérisson is a quietly luminous film, a small story that dares to speak softly yet leaves an echo long after it ends. Mona Achache adapts Muriel Barbery’s "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" with remarkable restraint, crafting a meditation on beauty, loneliness, and the subtle grace of human connection. The performances are just perfect. Josiane Balasko’s Renée radiates a stoic tenderness, while Garance Le Guillermic’s Paloma captures the sharp, weary intelligence of youth, without ever tipping into too much precociousness. The film’s deliberate pacing possibly can test the more impatient viewers, and its philosophical musings sometimes can be a bit over the top, but its sincerity ultimately redeems this completely. In the end it's a work of rare emotional intelligence, one that finds poetry and beauty in the ordinary and humanity and acceptance in the unseen. A film not of great spectacle, but of quiet revelation. A must see, if you ask me. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/11/25 Full Review Audience Member A nice movie of people who, although less socially gifted than the people they are surrounded by, are often more self-aware and unwilling to pretend, however, these people are majority and our main characters feel isolated as a result, so they find some comfort in each other's understanding of each other, making a point by showing how this connecting reaches no matter the superficial differences between them, such as age, social status or cultural upbringing, a film about love. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Very Elegant and subtle! Very french in spirit! Empathic and intelligent. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Gently builds, very nicely paced, never frantic. A potentially hideously precocious child is fantastically played without once becoming so. Quite probably a modern classic. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member A film of great charm and warmth, telling a tale slowly and gently, a big story on a very small stage. There is a biting social criticism behind the story, about the superficiality of rich people and their inability to see the dignity, indeed the lives, of those who are 'less' or different, but it is played deftly, by actors who do the job rather than say they are doing the job and direction which respects intelligence. Would=be child actors (and their parents) might learn much from the girl in this film, her vivacity, her projection of intelligence by being intelligent rather than just acting smart. There is also a cross cultural element. I will say no more, other than that if you are not warmed and made thoughtful; by it, I'll give you at best one star :-) Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Pleasant and warm and just a tiny bit eccentric. Filled with lovely little details that made me smile. Great music. Cinematography is lovely. The acting is wonderful. But that ending though... sigh... Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Hedgehog

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