'Ponette' (1996)
Directed by Jacques Doillon
Follows Ponette, a young girl who is trying to cope with devastating grief. The film is pretty extraordinary in terms of the cast - most of which are 5 year old children. How director Jacques Doillon got these performances out of them is nothing short of a miracle.
The camera is placed at Ponette's eye level for most of the film, so the audience is placed in her realm, with just fleeting interactions with adults. We journey with Ponette at school, with her peers, and in her habitat alone, trying to make sense of the direction that her family is heading. It's a heartbreaking watch at times, and there's also a tragic real life history regarding Marie Trintignant (daughter of legendary actor Jean Louis Trintignant) who plays Ponette's mother.
Roger Ebert praised the film, but marked it down due to a moment of magical realism towards the end. But with that moment, comes alot of hope and light, and without it, I think there would be a melancholy that doesn't really resolve itself.
It' a must watch for any cinephile if only to puzzle about how the director got the performances from the child actors.
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