Petite Maman

Synopsis

In this delicate, imaginative tale, precocious and bright eight-year-old Nelly travels with her parents to her mother’s childhood home following the death of her grandmother. As her parents spend their days cleaning out the house, Nelly wanders the surrounding woods searching for the fort her mother constructed as a child. To her surprise, she encounters a girl her own age, who is building a fort, and the two become fast friends. In this jewel of a magical realist fairytale, Portrait of a Lady on Fire filmmaker Sciamma (who co-wrote Jacques Audiard’s Festival entry Paris, 13th District) celebrates the reveries of childhood while exploring the elusive connections between mothers and daughters, past and present, fantasy and reality.