Mignon est partie

Mignon is a French teenager from a wealthy family who is forced to move in with her much poorer Italian relatives when her own family falls apart. First, she is like a fish on dry land, but soon she forms an unlikely bond with one of her Italian cousins.

This film is not easily described by a plot summary, because not an awful lot is happening, without this being an uneventful film. This is about real people in real life, their hopes and anxieties, their family life, their love life, their life. It is about teenagers growing up and coping with their emerging sexuality, about jealousy and trust, about families breaking apart, about families sticking together.

The performances by the cast are generally very good, although I sometimes felt that Mignon and her cousin were overdoing their parts just a little. In any case an excellent performance by Stefania Sandrelli as "Mama", the anchor of the family.

Mignon è partita is a well-made quiet family drama, but it isn't for everyone. I could imagine many Americans struggling to relate to these characters -- it is a very European film.

I had this film in videotape when I was a teenager, I spontaneously enjoyed its vision without asking myself too many questions about it. After that, 20 years passed by without seeing it and without really thinking about it, until recently when I watched another coming of age Italian film from the 90s, Ovosodo, and, having been really impressed by the raw honesty of it, I started thinking back to Mignon e' partita, and the similarities and differences between these 2 coming of age Italian films.

I managed to track down a copy of Mignon e' partita, and watched it finally yesterday. I remembered from my youth an average but enjoyable TV film about a dysfunctional but loving family, being put through a new test with the sudden arrival of a relative who is a complete stranger, and not a friendly one either.

Watching it again after many years I was impressed by the vivid atmosphere of this film, by the depth of its characters, the quality of the acting of both adults, played by nationally famous actors as, for example, Stefania Sandrelli, Massimo D' Apporto, and youngsters, who play their roles with such a vitality and a talent that I really hope they had, after this film, the chances they deserve to act in many other quality films.

Overall I can say director Francesca Archibugi created an intimate, vivid and totally believable family portrait in this film, mixing elements of tragedy, comedy and romance in the perfect way to create this little gem of a film.

If you like social realism, so-called kitchen sink dramas, coming of a age stories, I would strongly advise you to give a try to this film.