“Petite Maman” is a triumph. Much smaller in scope than her last film, 2019’s devastatingly romantic and brutally tragic “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Céline Sciamma’s latest is an intimate magical realist tale that’s a beautiful, bittersweet ode to childhood and an exploration of grief and the bonds between generations of women. Transportive and enchanting, it’s the rare story that does right by its young protagonist, neither condescending to her nor rendering her a mini adult: Sciamma doesn’t let her lead’s age interfere with making her a fully realized character.
Eight-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) is mourning the loss of her grandmother. Along with her parents, she travels to her mother’s (Nina Meurisse) childhood home to clean out its contents. Nelly has been soliciting stories from her parents’ childhoods for years, and treats the collection she’s assembled as no less valuable than precious gems. When presented with the opportunity to look through her mother’s old notebooks, she makes observations aloud that are no doubt being filed away into her expansive database: “You weren’t an ace at spelling, but you drew well,” she notes. She’s keen to explore the surrounding woods, where her mother used to play in a hut — a bit of trivia her father (Stéphane Varupenne) has long forgotten.
“You never talk about when you were young,” Nelly complains. Her claim is contested, but Nelly is quick to clarify that what she’s being told are “just little stories” — like if they liked pizza. “I don’t know the real stuff,” she explains. It’s pitiful, painful even, to see just how desperate Nelly is to know and understand her parents — because, ultimately, it seems as though that’s where this fixation on their childhoods stems from.
Nelly’s mother goes away for reasons that aren’t laid out in particularly clear or compassionate terms. Being there is too hard for her, Nelly’s father explains. But Nelly’s not sure if or when she’s returning.
But then something incredible happens. Nelly no longer needs to rely on her mother’s own account of her childhood — she manages to go back in time and actually meet her mother as a child (Gabrielle Sanz). She befriends her and they get the chance to spend hours and hours rebuilding that famous hut, cooking together, acting out an elaborate detective story, and having heart-to-hearts. Nelly is also able to get to know a much younger version of her grandmother (Margot Abascal). These experiences offer Nelly what she’s been desperately looking for: insight into her mother, whom she perceives to be “unhappy” and “not glad to be around.”
Sciamma doesn’t devote any of the film’s lean 72-minute runtime to explaining the logistics behind the time travel, and it’s just as well — this omission only adds to all the sense of magic and wonder. With just a handful of locations and actors, she casts an impressive spell, building a rich, immersive world. Like “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” “Petite Maman” will likely leave you in tears and resonate long after the credits roll.
“Petite Maman” is now in theaters.
