''Ponette'' is a 1996 French film directed by

Jacques Doillon Jacques Doillon (; born 15 March 1944) is a French film director. He has a habit of giving lead roles to inexperienced young actresses in his films on family life and women. Some actresses to break through are Fanny Bastien, Sandrine Bonnaire, Ju ...

. The film centers on four-year-old Ponette (

Victoire Thivisol Victoire Thivisol (born 6 July 1991) is a French film actress. She first gained acclaim for her role as a child coping with her mother's death in the 1996 film ''Ponette'', becoming the youngest actress to win the Volpi Cup Best Actress Award ...

), who is coming to terms with the death of her mother in a car crash. The film received acclaim for Thivisol's performance, who was only four at the time of filming.

Plot

Before the film begins, Ponette's mother dies in a car crash, which Ponette herself survives with only a broken arm (she consequently must wear an arm cast). Following her mother's death, Ponette's father (Xavier Beauvois) leaves the young girl with her Aunt Claire (

Claire Nebout Claire Nebout (born 20 May 1964) is a French actress. She has appeared in 55 films and television shows since 1986. She co-starred in ''In the Country of Juliets'', which was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival The 45th Cannes Film Fest ...

), and her cousins Matiaz (Matiaz Bureau Caton) and Delphine (Delphine Schiltz). Ponette and her cousins are later sent to a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

. There the loss of her mother becomes even more harsh and painful when she is mocked on the playground for being motherless.The New York Times Movies
Not yet having come to terms with her mother's death, Ponette searches for her. Ponette becomes increasingly withdrawn, and spends most of her time waiting for her mother to come back. When waiting alone fails, Ponette enlists the help of her school friend Ada (Léopoldine Serre) to help her become a "child of God" to hopefully convince God to return her mother, in vain. In the end, Ponette visits a cemetery and cries for her mother, who suddenly appears to comfort her and ask her to live her life and not be sad all the time. Her mother (played by

Marie Trintignant Marie Trintignant (; 21 January 1962 – 1 August 2003) was a French film and stage actress. She appeared in over 30 movies during the span of her 36-year career. Her family was deeply involved in France's film industry, as her father was an acto ...

) says she cannot keep coming back, so Ponette must move on and go be happy with her father. Then it appears that her mother gives her a sweater that she did not bring to the cemetery, and her father comments when he sees her that "I haven't seen that sweater in a while".

Cast

as Ponette * Delphine Schiltz as Delphine * Matiaz Bureau Caton as Matiaz * Léopoldine Serre as Ada *

as Mother *

Xavier Beauvois Xavier Beauvois (; born 20 March 1967) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. Career His film ''Don't Forget You're Going to Die'' was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize. His film '' Of Gods an ...

as Father *

as Aunt Claire

Critical response

On the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 91%, based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film French drama films 1996 films Films directed by Jacques Doillon Films produced by Alain Sarde Films scored by Philippe Sarde