Ponette

My wife and I viewed this film without any prior knowledge of its quality (or even of its existence!) To say the least, we were extremely impressed. We find it difficult to understand how the director managed to create situations where these wonderful children could perform so magnificently. The storyline is certainly simplistic, but the film's greatness comes from the marvelous interactions between the young children which go well beyond acting as we normally understand it. These interactions are so authentic that the storyline as such becomes a secondary consideration. One reviewer critized the 'fantasy' ending of the film saying that it somehow broke the flow of the story...

But, I for one appreciate the fact that the creators of this film allowed us to regain our composure before the lights went back on !

"Ponette" (French, 1996): We learn that a child lost her mother in a car accident. Ponette (the child), like all children, tries to blend the various truths given her by adults, other children, teachers, books, rumors, churches...eventually arriving at her own version of Truth...a Truth that allows her to move on, with some peace. No one seems to know what to DO for her, and so, her search is solo. What most ASTOUNDS me about "Ponette" is: 1) It's written NOT by grown ups who see children as small adults, but as true children - with all the confusion, magic, and hope we seem to lose as we age, and, 2) the ACTING of Victoire Thivisol ("Ponette") is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. She received numerous awards for this role, which upset some people - because she was only FOUR YEARS OLD at the time. "HOW CAN ANYONE HAVE TALENT AT FOUR?" Watch it for yourself. No one is beating her, no one is spraying lemon juice in her eyes, no one is tickling her feet...SHE is doing her own work. It's like she is channeling the next incarnation of Meryl Streep or someone. Since "Ponette", she has done two more films, including "Chocolat" (1999) with Juliette Binoche. She is now only TWELVE. I should live so long as to follow her entire career.

A 4-year-old French girl, Ponette (Victoire Thivisol) waits for the return of her mother, who has just died at an auto accident.

This beautiful and sensitive drama surprised a lot of people when won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival 1996, given to a 5-year-old novice, Victoire Thivisol. She is really magnificent and, controversy aside, the important award recognized the biggest achievement in the film: Victoire reacts with amazing naturalness and outstanding facial expressions to the most intricate scenes. "Ponette" is a film that certainly will be in your memory, mostly because of a too young girl who shows the difference between a little great actress and a gracious child who wrinkles the eyebrows eloquently.

I love everything about this film. The cast portrayed their characters well; the script presented a variety of philosophical viewpoints; and many of the interactions between the children were symbolic of religion in the adult world. Those who would be thrown off by this sort of a thing should not worry, because there are plenty of sweet moments and a very satisfying ending. And I must say that that little girl's performance was utterly stunning. Amazingly enough, she was four years old during filming. I would recommend it to anyone with a brain or a heart.

I do not believe I have ever seen a film that comes anywhere close to "Ponette" before. While I would not consider it my favorite film that I could watch over and over and over, it is easily one of the stronger movies I have seen. Rarely do I view a film that is so precise and cohesive even though it simultaneously plays off so many different themes, like sentimentallity, nostalgia (we all remember the strange social world of the playground though maybe some of us don't want to go back), the pain of loss, and (gasp) humor. Most directors and actors would get lost at one point or another, not knowing how to segue or shift from one tone to another, but here there is nary a problem with doing so, which is especially amazing considering the leading lady has been walking and talking for about as long as it takes to make a bowl of oatmeal.

The best scenes for me were the trials that the older girl put Ponette through. The dumpster one was especially great. Considering that early on in the film I sympathized with Ponette when she cried during some scenes, I felt bad laughing at her suffering through the tests, especially when her hand got caught when the dumpster lid came down. I believe some of this movie was improv, so for all I know, the poor girl really got her hand hurt, but I remember those type of moments as a child; those tests of stamina, durability, agility, etc. I put my younger brother through some horrific ones. One time he broke his arm. How could I have been so cruel?

A performance artist/singer named Suran Song recommended I watch this film. In Suran's performance, she actually uses slides of the scene where the mean little punk Antoine is playing with Ponette on the playground and begins to verbally abuse her about her mothers death. The context Suran used the scene in her act seemed to be making a statement about how people treat others in society, even when very young. Interesting how she sort of sampled an individual scene and made it into a story of her own, because it plays much differently in the film as a whole (obviously) since we know the characters.

Probably not for everyone, but certainly for those who want to a see a piece of work very left-of-center yet not oddball in any way; simply a viewpoint that wouldn't normally seem worth making an entire feature film out of because it would be hard to pull off. Ponette is not only pulled off... it goes flying to the moon.