Ponette

Director: Jacques Doillon
Country: France

1996 | 97 min. | French
Synchronization in German
FSK 0
Age recommendation: Ages 6+

Cast_ Victoire Thivisol, Delphine Schiltz, Matiaz Bureau Caton Screenplay_ Jacques Doillon, Brune Compagnon Camera_ Caroline Champetier Producer_ Christine Gozlan, Alain Sarde Rights_ STUDIOCANAL

A child’s mourning, represented with extraordinary delicacy and precision. Victoire Thivisol, then four years old, was awarded the prize for Best Actress in Venice.

The little Ponette is four years old when her mother dies. The girl staunchly rebels against this irreversible fact. The way she waits for her mother’s resurrection is captivatingly active. Ponette and her friends make death the subject of their games. They dream up reasons and explanations, invent tests of courage, and continuously weave fairy tales and beliefs into their own stories. Auteur Jacques Doillon (La drôlesse) had extensive discussions with his little actors in preparation for the shoot. As a result, it’s not the film that determines the characters, but it’s rather them that give it direction. They are its substance, its rhythm, its restlessly beating heart.

Director

Jacques Doillon, born in Paris in 1944, is a director and scriptwriter. In his films he often works with children and young people as lead actors. His work has received awards at numerous festivals, as well as nominations for the Palme d’Or, the Golden Bear and the Golden Lion, among others.