Ponette (Ponette)
Director – Jacques Doillon – 1996 – France – Cert. PG – 97m
*****
A four-year-old girl must come to terms with the car crash death of her mother – out in UK cinemas on Friday, June 26th 1998
A truly extraordinary film defying easy categorisation, the plot of Ponette is essentially very simple – a four-year-old girl must come to terms with the car crash death of her mother. If Hollywood had attempted anything like this, you can almost guarantee the material would be cynically manipulated to tug at the heartstrings, go out of its way not to offend anyone and strive to reap maximum rewards at the box office by pleasing as many people as possible. Ponette, however, comes not from Hollywood but France where such things are approached very differently.
Much is said in these pages and elsewhere about actors, but when a four year old scoops Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival, you know something remarkable is going on. You’d be justified in wondering how far children can genuinely act and how far they are merely being exploited by unscrupulous film makers, but here, established director Jacques Doillon (Le Jeune Werther, 1993) and crew have taken great care that the children involved never confused the demands of their acting with reality (anyway, why should they?) by, among other things, having psychologists on hand to observe the child cast on the set and pull the plug if necessary. As far as one can tell, the children – especially leading actress Victoire Thivisol – behaved like consummate professionals and the film is chock full of strongly affecting child performances.
Being in French with subtitles will likely and unfortunately make the film intolerably boring for any four year olds unused to speaking that language – which is a pity since they’d otherwise get a great deal out of the proceedings. (Not that we’d want to see these children’s performances gutted by dubbing – outside of the sort of earphone commentary the National Film Theatre provides on occasion, it’s difficult to know how to otherwise circumvent this difficulty). Parents will however find this compelling viewing, as will anyone fascinated by the internal workings of a four-year-old’s mind. If that sounds like you, then Ponette is highly recommended.
Out in UK cinemas on Friday, June 26th 1998.
Reviewed for What’s On in London.
Trailer: