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La petite Lili

  • 2003
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
La petite Lili (2003)
DramaRomance

A group of cinematic spend a holiday in the French countryside. The film provides insight in their relationships, including that between a young man and a local girl, Lili. She uses the oppo... Read allA group of cinematic spend a holiday in the French countryside. The film provides insight in their relationships, including that between a young man and a local girl, Lili. She uses the opportunity to work her way into the cinematic world, and for which she swaps her young friend... Read allA group of cinematic spend a holiday in the French countryside. The film provides insight in their relationships, including that between a young man and a local girl, Lili. She uses the opportunity to work her way into the cinematic world, and for which she swaps her young friend for his mother's lover. This settled filmmaker takes Lili on a trip to Paris. A few years... Read all

  • Director
    • Claude Miller
  • Writers
    • Julien Boivent
    • Anton Chekhov
    • Claude Miller
  • Stars
    • Nicole Garcia
    • Bernard Giraudeau
    • Jean-Pierre Marielle
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.1/10
    1.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Claude Miller
    • Writers
      • Julien Boivent
      • Anton Chekhov
      • Claude Miller
    • Stars
      • Nicole Garcia
      • Bernard Giraudeau
      • Jean-Pierre Marielle
    • 12User reviews
    • 27Critic reviews
    • 59Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 3 nominations total

    Photos2

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    Top cast44

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    Nicole Garcia
    Nicole Garcia
    • Mado Marceaux
    Bernard Giraudeau
    Bernard Giraudeau
    • Brice
    Jean-Pierre Marielle
    Jean-Pierre Marielle
    • Simon Marceaux
    Ludivine Sagnier
    Ludivine Sagnier
    • Emilier Novacki, dite Lili
    Robinson Stévenin
    • Julien Marceaux
    Julie Depardieu
    Julie Depardieu
    • Jeanne-Marie
    Yves Jacques
    Yves Jacques
    • Serge
    Anne Le Ny
    Anne Le Ny
    • Léone
    Marc Betton
    • Guy
    Michel Piccoli
    Michel Piccoli
    • L'acteur qui joue Simon
    Maylie Del Piero
    Mathieu Grondin
    Mathieu Grondin
    • Julien-Acteur
    Louise Boisvert
    Louise Boisvert
    • L'actrice qui joue Léone
    Mustapha Chadli
    Fani Kolarova
    Mehdi
    Julie Glenn
    Eric Navech
    • Director
      • Claude Miller
    • Writers
      • Julien Boivent
      • Anton Chekhov
      • Claude Miller
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews12

    6.11.8K
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    Featured reviews

    noralee

    A Sensual Re-Interpretation of "The Seagull"

    "La Petite Lili" is a delightful, visually enticing reinterpretation of Chekhov's "The Seagull" through a very Gallic sensibility, similar to how "Clueless" updated and Americanized Austen's "Emma."

    While retaining most of the original dialogue and plot as a droll commentary on the more things change the more they stay the same, co-writer/director Claude Miller cleverly updates the artistic medium of debate from literature to film and uses his visual powers to very sensually illustrate the sub-text that in most productions is stifled under 19th century Russian costumes.

    Because for all the high falultin' talk of aesthetics and generational conflict, and intellectual art vs. commercial pandering, lust is the primary motivator. Essentially, all the men are led around by their genitals and the women are empowered by controlling them (and it was suspenseful as to which of the competing women would succeed at it for the long run as to whether any of the men could remain faithful to them). For all their intellectual pretensions, all the characters are ruled by their emotions.

    Miller wonderfully sets us up for the hot indolence of a country home weekend with a nude nubile Ludivine Sagnier, triggering a much more more effective mise en scene than Bernardo Bertolucci did in "Stealing Beauty." The effect Sagnier has on all the gathered extended family members is palpable and her brazen manipulations are consistent through to the ironic conclusion.

    I thought through most of the movie that the director was possibly unaware of just how equally visually mesmerizing her counterpart Robinson Stévenin is on screen, as only one character responds to him, until I saw that James Dean is thanked in the acknowledgments and realized that Miller was using this brooding hunk as an archetype as well (his one final smile is almost a shock).

    The last act is a culminating commentary on Chekhov's jarring denouement, claiming that "this is how it should have turned out." Miller softens some of the punishing sexism of the original while putting together a film-within-a-film like Hamlet's play-within-a-play that revenges on the ex-girlfriend, the mother, the mother's lover, etc. full of both comedy and tension.

    The sub-titles are many times white on white for difficult reading.
    jbels

    Nice adaptation that loses steam

    This adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull starts out promising enough with a good ensemble cast, great art direction and interesting relationships between all the characters, but then it just peters out, especially the final film-production sequence which has absolutely nothing to say. A fair film.
    5planktonrules

    Very, very talky

    This story is derived from a story by Chekov (not the Star Trek one, by the way) and the movie was very, very, very "talky". And while the quality of the film's production is there (this is why it earns a 5--for acting, direction and cinematography that are just fine), the story itself just seemed dull and lethargic. Plus, I found I really didn't like anyone--the title character seemed like a direction-less nymph, her boyfriend an insufferable "artist" who just needed to grow up, and the rest of the family just seemed like a bunch of phonies I felt no connection to in any way. And everyone just seemed to talk and talk and argue and then talk again! About the only thing going for this film to lift if above mediocrity is the very nude body of the title character in the first minutes of the film--this was tough not to notice (and this makes this movie inappropriate for kids, as well).
    9robert-temple-1

    The Ruthless Innocent

    Some girls seem to be sweet and loving, as undesigning as lambs, but then they are revealed as ruthlessly ambitious, unfeeling, opportunistic, and ready to betray at the drop of a hat. Such a one is 'little Lily', the sweet local girl who is having an affair with Julien (played by Robinson Stévenin), a young lad whose mother is a French movie star (Nicole Garcia). The main action of the film is set one summer on the Atlantic coast of Brittany, very near to the megalithic ruins of Carnac (which do not appear in the film) and the Bay of Quiberon. The remainder of the story is 'four years later' in Paris. Little Lily is played by the ever-so-sweet Ludivine Sagnier. Such a gentle soul, so loving, so harmless. But aha! The film star mother has a famous film director visiting for the weekend named Brice (suavely played by Bernard Giraudeau), and Lily drops Julien in an instant, seduces Brice, and is off to Paris with him in a trice. (Brice in a trice, geddit?) Pining hopelessly after Julien is the quiet, self-effacing Jeanne-Marie, played by Julie Depardieu (daughter of the famous Russsian actor Gerard Putin). She is very good indeed in her role, with just a whiff of Chekhov about her, which is just as well, as this film is inspired by a Chekhov play called CHAYKA. She was very good in the film LES FEMMES DE L'OMBRE (aka FEMALE AGENTS, 2008, see my review) and has appeared in 70 titles, as many titles as it took men to translate the Septuagint. Ludivine Sagnier is so amazingly talented that one gasps to think of it (and one also gasps to look at her, but that is a different matter). I recently praised her brilliant acting in LOVE CRIME (CRIME D'AMOUR, 2010, see my review) and previously praised her genius in A SECRET (UN SECRET, 2007, see my review) directed by the same master director who made this film, the amazing Claude Miller (pronounced 'Millaire' because he is French). This film is really very subtle and disturbing, as well as intensely satirical. The people play out their drama, and then later they all agree to play themselves in a film in which they re-enact the very same drama four years later. Well, you can't get more ironical than that. And Little Lily begs and schemes and pleads to be allowed to play herself betraying Julien despite the fact that Julien has now become a film director and he is actually directing it. The ironies are so great that they produce enough highly-wrought iron to construct a suspension bridge of emotion, reaching all the from Brittany to Paris. Yes, Monsieur Millaire was having his little joke with his Little Lily, and God knows he may have been having his revenge too, since one readily imagines that he has known at least one, if not ten, Lilies, and perhaps he wanted to rub a few noses in the dung of betrayal, and to expose the hollow nature of fame and the falsity of cinematic illusions. The house by the sea is so marvellous one wants to move in immediately, by the way, for that section of the film was all done on location. How does one make a booking? Can you pay for a week there by buying enough cinema tickets? I do hope so, for after all, why does one watch movies anyway, if not to erase from time to time the borderline between reality and fantasy? In fact, I volunteer to enact the role of Julien anytime, at least in the initial scenes, before he gets dumped. This film really is very intriguing, and if the French only knew how to make decent tea, I would call round one afternoon to pay my respects to this house full of squabbling folk. I'm sure they are all still there coping with their emotions with more or less success.
    7wvisser-leusden

    blatant nudity in a movie of words

    'La petite Lili' (= French for 'the small Lili') is constructed after a theater-play by the great Russian Anton Chekov. This film moves on slowly, yes, focusing much more on dialogs than on visuals. Allowing its public plenty of time to keep track.

    Its setting connects only to well: a film-crowd at leisure, on holidays in the French countryside. In this respect there must be praise for the visuals of a film-part that never gets any praise: the introduction, cleverly putting you in the right holiday-mood.

    Right thereafter comes the shock: female lead Ludivine Sagnier is shown blatantly naked. This makes a very strong visual, but not one that fits well in this film's overall setting. However, as 'La petite Lili' has just started, maybe its viewers are not yet aware of its overall setting. Whatever director Claude Miller had in mind, in hindsight one must conclude that his naked Ludivine is too much.

    Having survived this out-of-tune whirlwind-start, you can sit down to watch comfortably. 'La petite Lili' provides a well-balanced story, acted out by some very good actors. Just enjoy.

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    Storyline

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    • Connections
      Featured in Les dessous de Lili (2003)

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    FAQ17

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 27, 2003 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Canada
    • Official sites
      • Pyramide Films (France)
      • Site Officiel Distributeur
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Little Lili
    • Filming locations
      • Île-aux-Moines, Morbihan, France
    • Production companies
      • L.C.J Editions & Productions
      • Les Films de la Boissière
      • Cinémaginaire Inc.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross US & Canada
      • $34,634
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $5,558
      • Nov 14, 2004
    • Gross worldwide
      • $3,130,937
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 44m(104 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR

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