Following the huge success of her last film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma has returned to the big screen with her latest feature, Petite Maman.
The film is due to be released in UK cinemas this November, following its premiere in March and its release in France in June 2021. It promises to be another triumph for its director, with praise already emerging for its plot and Sciamma’s creative decisions. A trailer was exclusively released on YouTube via Empire Online earlier this month.
Petite Maman follows Nelly (Joséphine Sanz), a young girl dealing with the loss of her grandmother. In the wake of her mother’s grief, Nelly ventures into the woods and meets an identical girl (Gabrielle Sanz, Joséphine’s twin sister) who shares a name with her mother. What follows is being lauded as a modern ghost story, a brilliant look into timeless themes of family and loss. The film has been favourably compared to A Child in Time, Ian McEwan’s “beautifully rendered, very disturbing” short novel which deals with the emotional fallout after the disappearance of the protagonist’s three-year-old daughter.
Sciamma was announced as writer and director in November 2020, shortly before photography began for the film. The trailer suggests a continuation of Sciamma’s stylistic trademarks, including her signature use of sound to accentuate the film’s emotional impact, particularly with regard to the relationship between Nelly and Marion.
Sciamma’s recent success has made this film highly anticipated. Portrait of a Lady on Fire was released in 2019 to almost unanimous acclaim, with critics praising the visuals, acting and directing, and its success helped to establish Sciamma internationally. The film was also lauded as a landmark in historical queer and feminist storytelling, and saw Sciamma win four awards along with multiple nominations.
Petite Maman represents another solid step forward in Sciamma’s career. She has been heralded as a champion of unknown actors and of women in the film industry and, in her fifth feature film, the director is showing no signs of stopping.
Petite Maman premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on 3 March 2021. Streaming platform MUBI acquired the distribution rights in the UK, Ireland and Turkey shortly afterwards.
Petite Maman is scheduled for release in UK cinemas on 19 November 2021, and will be available to stream on MUBI from 4 February 2022.
Words by Charlotte Goodger
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.