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''Little Nicholas'' (french: Le Petit Nicolas), also known as ''Petit Nicolas'' (UK), is a 2009 French-Belgian
family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Laurent Tirard Laurent Tirard (born 18 February 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter. Life and career Laurent Tirard grew up admiring American films, such as those by Steven Spielberg. He studied film making at New York University, worked as a scr ...
, who co-wrote with Grégoire Vigneron and
Alain Chabat Alain Chabat (; born 24 November 1958) is a French actor, comedian, director, screenwriter, producer and television presenter. He was originally known for his work in the comedy group Les Nuls, including as the co-writer and lead actor of ''La C ...
. It is based on a
series of children's books Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...
by
René Goscinny René Goscinny (, ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Raised largely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schoo ...
and
Jean-Jacques Sempé Jean-Jacques Sempé, usually known as Sempé (; 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2022), was a French cartoonist. He is known for the series of children's books he created with René Goscinny, ''Le Petit Nicolas'', and also for his poster-like illust ...
. The film features an ensemble cast led by Maxime Godart in the title role of Nicolas. The film was theatrically released in France on 30 September 2009 by Wild Bunch Distribution, Central Film, and
EOne Films Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production ...
. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and earned $100.8 million on a $22.7 million budget. It won the French Television of Ontario (
TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is owned by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by the ...
) Prize for Best Youth Film at the
Cinéfranco Cinéfranco is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which presents a weeklong program of both Canadian and international French language films. History The festival was established in 1997 by Marcelle Lean, a former chair of the On ...
in 2010 and also received nominations for the
César Award Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * C ...
for Best Writing – Adaptation, the
European Film Award The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...
for People's Choice Award for Best European Film, and the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for Best Foreign-Language Film. A sequel, ''
Nicholas on Holiday ''Nicholas on Holiday'' (aka ''Nicolas on Holiday'' (UK), french: Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas) is a 2014 French family comedy film directed by Laurent Tirard, starring Mathéo Boisselier, Valérie Lemercier, Kad Merad, Dominique Lavanant, Franço ...
'', was released on 9 July 2014.


Synopsis

In 1950s
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, a young boy named Nicolas and his friends get into all sorts of mischief, both intentional and unintentional. Matters worsen when Nicolas, a single child, thinks his mother is pregnant and a baby brother is forthcoming. A friend of Nicolas's has a baby brother and thinks brotherhood is horrible. Thanks to his friend's ideas, Nicolas believes this means his parents do not love him anymore and will abandon him. He and his pals embark on several schemes to raise 500
franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...
s to have the baby kidnapped and left in a jungle.


Cast

* Maxime Godart as Little Nicolas *
Valérie Lemercier Valérie Lemercier (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress, screenwriter, director and singer. Life and career Born in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime as the daughter of farmers, Lemercier grew up in Gonzeville and then studied at the Rouen Conservato ...
as Nicolas' mother *
Kad Merad Kad Merad (born Kaddour Merad, ar, قدور ميراد, link=no; 27 March 1964) is a French-Algerian filmmaker and actor who has acted both on stage and on screen. Life and career Kad Merad was born in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, on 27 March 1 ...
as Nicolas' father *
Sandrine Kiberlain Sandrine Kiberlain (born Sandrine Kiberlajn; 25 February 1968) is a French actress and singer. Her most notable roles were in the films '' The Patriots'' (1994), '' A Self Made Hero'' (1996), ''For Sale'' (1998), ''Alias Betty'' (2001), ''Madem ...
as the teacher * François-Xavier Demaison as Mr. Dubon *
Daniel Prévost Daniel Prévost (born 20 October 1939) is a French actor, comedian and writer. Early life Daniel Prévost, alias Denis Forestier, was born to Micheline Chevalier and Mohand Ait Salem. His father was of Berber descent from Algeria (Kabylie re ...
as M. Moucheboume, Nicolas' father's boss *
Michel Galabru Michel Louis Edmond Galabru (27 October 19224 January 2016) was a French actor. Career Galabru appeared in more than 250 films and worked with directors such as Bertrand Blier, Costa-Gavras, Luc Besson (for '' Subway''), and Jean-Luc Godard. ...
as The Education Minister (1922-†2016) *
Anémone Anne Bourguignon (; 9 August 1950 – 30 April 2019), known professionally as Anémone (), was a French actress, filmmaker and political activist. She took her stage name in 1968 from the title of her film debut in Philippe Garrel's ''Anémone' ...
as Mademoiselle Navarin (1950-†2019) *
François Damiens François Georges Henri Marie Ghislain Joseph Damiens (; born 17 January 1973) is a Belgian actor. Career He has appeared in more than fifty films since 2000. He started out doing hidden camera videos in the 90s and became widely popular in B ...
as Blédur *
Serge Riaboukine Serge Riaboukine (born 29 December 1957) is a French actor. Theatre Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riaboukine, Serge 1957 births Living people French male film actors French male television actors French pe ...
as Francis Leborgne *
Victor Carles The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
as Clotaire, the worst student in class * Damien Ferdel as Agnan, the hypocrite and best student in class * Vincent Claude as Alceste, the glutton * Charles Vaillant as Geoffrey, the richest student in class * Benjamin Averty as Eudes, the fighter (1998-†2018) * Germain Petit Damico as Rufus, the son of policeman * Virgile Tirard as Joachim *
Françoise Bertin Françoise Bertin (23 September 1925 – 26 October 2014) was a French actress. She appeared in over 125 films since 1961. Among these were five films directed by Alain Resnais: ''Last Year at Marienbad'', '' Muriel'', '' The War Is Over'', ''I ...
as The old lady (1925-†2014) *
Michel Duchaussoy Michel René Jacques Duchaussoy (29 November 1938 – 13 March 2012) was a French film actor, who appeared in more than 130 films between 1962 and 2012. At first a theatre actor, he worked for many years in the Comédie Française, where he ...
as the headmaster (1938-†2012)


Production


Development

Producers Olivier Delbosc and Marc Missonnier from ''Fidelity Films'' offered Laurent Tirard the project, who immediately accepted it because he had grown up with the characters from the story. About the story, Tirard said, "It... struck me as obvious. I grew up with ''Le Petit Nicolas''. I read twhen I was a teenager. This work represents me and speaks to me. I immediately knew what the film would look like." Tirard further added that the character of Nicolas was very personal to René Goscinny, saying, "I knew that the key would be to adapt the both in his work and in his life, so I tried to understand the character of René Goscinny. This was someone who was looking for his place in society, and he had to win through laughter... oscinnyrealized that laughter could be both a defense na society where you do not feel out-of-place and a way to insert. These are things that I read between the lines of his biographies, and
hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
spoke to me. The little boy looking for his place in society has become the axis on which to build the story."


Casting

On 8 April 2008, it was announced that
Valérie Lemercier Valérie Lemercier (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress, screenwriter, director and singer. Life and career Born in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime as the daughter of farmers, Lemercier grew up in Gonzeville and then studied at the Rouen Conservato ...
and
Kad Merad Kad Merad (born Kaddour Merad, ar, قدور ميراد, link=no; 27 March 1964) is a French-Algerian filmmaker and actor who has acted both on stage and on screen. Life and career Kad Merad was born in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, on 27 March 1 ...
had joined the cast of the film as Nicloas's mother and father. Maxime Godart was cast as the main protagonist, Nicolas. On that matter, Tirard said, "Maxime Godart has a very clear vision of the place he wants to be in the company of what he wants to do with his life. With his outgoing personality, I thought he would not be afraid in front of the camera. But it happened the other way around. The first day, when huge crane arm with a camera approached him for a first round crank, he was petrified!" According to Tirard, Maxime had a great desire to play the character, and he really enjoyed it. "He never gave any sign of fatigue or expressed the need to stop," said Tirard. Tirard also cast his own son Virgil Tirard, as Joachim, a classmate and friend of Nicolas's.


Filming

Filming began on 22 May 2008 in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and ended on 11 October 2008. Most of the filming took place at Studio Monev at
Sint-Pieters-Leeuw Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (; french: Leeuw-Saint-Pierre) is a Dutch-speaking municipality of Belgium located in the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region). The municipality comprises the towns of Oudenaken, Ruisbroek, Sint-Laureins-Berchem, Sint ...
. Scenes were also shot at
Laeken () or () is a residential suburb in the north-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It belongs to the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality of the City of Brussels and is mostly identified by the ...
, near the old school of boatmen on a vacant lot, and at the corner of la rue Claessens and la rue Dieudonné Lefèvre.


Music and soundtrack

The score for ''Le Petit Nicolas'' was composed by
Klaus Badelt Klaus Badelt (born 12 June 1967) is a German composer, producer, and arranger of film scores. He is known for his collaborations with Hans Zimmer, helping to write scores for dozens of critically acclaimed films including '' The Thin Red Line'', ...
and performed by Geert Chatrou,
Dirk Brossé Dirk, Knight BrosséEtat présent de la noblesse belge 2015, p. 20 (born 18 February 1960, Ghent) is a Belgian conductor and composer. He has composed over 200 works, including concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic works. Bro ...
, and Loïc Pontieux. It was released on 28 September 2009 by
EmArcy Records EmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by the American Mercury Records. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company. During the 1950s and 1960s, musicians such as Max Roach, Clifford Brown ...
.
Renan Luce Renan Luce (; born 5 March 1980) is a French singer-songwriter from Paris. His songs are inspired by the 20th-century singer Georges Brassens and depict everyday life with a dose of humour and poetry. He is the voice of Wirt in the French dub of ...
's second single "On n’est pas à une bêtise près" ("Was not a mistake near") from his 2009 album ''Clan miros'' appears in the end credits of the film, but it is not part of the album. The song was later released by Luce in October 2009. The album received positive response on its release. ''Movienthusiast'' gave the album a positive review and awarded it three out of five stars, saying, " hemusic of this film is able to fill a variety of themes, ndscenes usually pose a ticklish feeling in the audience themselves." In the soundtrack, Badelt uses "intelligent sound", combining bass drums, violin, harmonica, triangle, and even whistle. "Overall," said ''Movienthusiast'', "every scene is filled by a variety of sounds from various instruments, giving them extra charm." ;Track listing


Release


Theatrical release

The film was theatrically released in France on 30 September 2009 by Wild Bunch Distribution, Central Film, and
EOne Films Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production ...
.


Home media

The film was released on DVD on 3 February 2010 by Wild Side Video. Bonus features included a booklet with a history of Petit Nicolas and commentary featuring the child artists of the film.


Reception


Box office

In its first week of release, ''Le Petit Nicolas'' sold over a million tickets in France. The film was the highest-grossing film in France for the year with a gross of $48,398,428. It grossed $11,088,066 in international territories for a total of $59,486,494.


Critical reception

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
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 holds an approval rating of 60% based on 10 reviews. David Parkinson of
Empire Online ''Empire'' is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. The first issue was published in May 1989. History David Hepworth of Emap, the publisher of British music magazines '' Q'' and ''Smash Hits'', among other titles ...
gave the film three out of five stars, saying, "Charmingly capturing the misconceptions of childhood and ebulliently played by a knowing cast, it should delight all ages." Phelim O'Neill of
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
gave four stars out of five by saying that "It presents a gently humorous, beautifully shot idyllic version of childhood, all blue skies, good manners and not a hair out of place. It's a nice place to visit for the duration." Omer Ali of ''Little White Lies'' praised the film, saying, "A diverting alternative to more high-octane kiddie fare." Amber Wilkinson of ''Eye for Film'' praised the actors, saying, "In a refreshing change from Hollywood films aimed at this market, there is a blissful lack of toilet humor and... plenty of fun to be had for an older audience in watching Nicholas' hapless father (Kad Merad) attempt to win a promotion from his boss by bringing him home to dinner. The acting from the adults has a slight pantomime edge to it, but this complements the source material and gives a real sense of the way in which children tend to view grown-ups as larger-than-life. The children, meanwhile, form a sweet and believable ensemble with Maxime Godart in the central role and Victor Carles as class clot Clotaire. In particular,
hey are Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title ...
likely to crop up in other films." Similarly, Bernard Besserglik of
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
also commented, saying that this film adaptation is "technically proficient" and " eaturestwo of France's best comic actors." However, Jordan Mintzer of
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
criticized the film, saying, "The clan of boys, and especially Nicolas himself, are too impeccably coiffed, dressed, and mannered to resemble the ruffians depicted in Sempe’s drawings or anything like real kids at all. Along with Francoise Dupertuis’ flamboyant sets and tidy lensing by Denis Rouden ("MR 73″), the result is a look of squeaky-clean postwar nostalgia, closer to Christophe Barratier’s ''The Chorus'' than to Truffaut’s ''The 400 Blows'', which was set around the same time period." Robbie Collin of
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
also gave a negative review to the film, saying, "English-speaking children will have to read very quickly indeed to keep up with the subtitles in this meek French family entertainment based on a series of children’s books by René Goscinny, original writer of the ''Asterix'' strips."


Accolades


Sequel

In August 2013, it was confirmed that the film sequel, ''
Nicholas on Holiday ''Nicholas on Holiday'' (aka ''Nicolas on Holiday'' (UK), french: Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas) is a 2014 French family comedy film directed by Laurent Tirard, starring Mathéo Boisselier, Valérie Lemercier, Kad Merad, Dominique Lavanant, Franço ...
'' (''Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas''), would be released on 9 July 2014.
Valérie Lemercier Valérie Lemercier (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress, screenwriter, director and singer. Life and career Born in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime as the daughter of farmers, Lemercier grew up in Gonzeville and then studied at the Rouen Conservato ...
and
Kad Merad Kad Merad (born Kaddour Merad, ar, قدور ميراد, link=no; 27 March 1964) is a French-Algerian filmmaker and actor who has acted both on stage and on screen. Life and career Kad Merad was born in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, on 27 March 1 ...
reprised their roles in the sequel, with the character of Nicolas played by newcomer Mathéo Boisselier.


See also

*
Le petit Nicolas ''Le Petit Nicolas'' (Little Nicholas) is a series of French children's books created by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé and it was first published on 30 March 1959. The books depict an idealized version of childhood in 19 ...
, series of French children's books.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Little Nicholas 2009 films 2000s French-language films Films based on short fiction French children's films Films based on French novels Films based on children's books Films set in Paris Films shot in France Films set in the 1950s 2009 comedy-drama films Films scored by Klaus Badelt 2000s French films