Ponette (1996)
Directed by Jacques Doillon

Film Review

Ponette is an unusual film about bereavement seen through the eyes of a young girl.  That girl is played by Victoire Thivisol in a truly captivating and believable performance, one that won her best actress at the 1996 Venice Film Festival.  For the most part, the camera is transfixed on the young girl's face, which shows a remarkable array of emotions.  From the start, the audience forms an immediate empathy with her, and sees the the world through her eyes.  Even in the scenes with Marie Trintingant at the end of the film, it is the alluring Thivisol who holds our attention.

Undoubtedly, it is Victoire Thivisol more than anything which carries the film.  Without an actress of her calibre, this would probably have been a very dull and inaccessible film - watching young children at play can be entrancing in real-life, but it does not necessarily make good cinema.  Thivisol's compelling on-screen presence renders the rambling narrative and even the jarring fantasy ending pardonable.

Film Synopsis

Leaving hospital with minor injuries after a car accident which nearly cost her her life, four-year-old Ponette finds she has to come to terms with the death of the mother to whom she was utterly devoted.  Her atheist father does his best to help the little girl understand that she will never see her mother again, but she can make no sense of his words.  She is certain that one day her chère maman will return to her and their life will continue as before.  As he copes with his own paralysing grief, Ponette's father places her in the care of an aunt who lives in the country with her own young children, Delphine and Matiaz.

Unlike her father, Ponette's aunt is a staunch Christian who believes in the Resurrection and the immortality of the human soul.  Believing she is doing the right thing, she tries to comfort her niece with her religious beliefs.  This leaves Ponette more confused than ever and her father has an even harder job of persuading her that her mother isn't about to come back from the dead.  Returning to school, Ponette falls under the influence of an older girl who claims to have mystical powers that will allow her to bring her mother back to her.  Once more, Ponette is left bewildered and disappointed. It is whilst visiting her mother's grave that the miracle happens...