French director Celine Sciamma explores female bonds and experiences in her latest feature, released in 2021— Petite Maman. Unlike her previous pictures, Water Lilies (2007), Tomboy (2011), and the critically-acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), which focus on sexuality, gender identity and relationships, Sciamma’s new film navigates an intergenerational mother-daughter relationship.
Petite Maman revolves around 8-year old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) who lost her grandmother, as she helps Marion (Nina Meurisse), her mother, clean out her childhood home. The film looks like a typical drama exploring one’s grief from the surface; however, things take a turn when Nelly meets a young girl (Gabrielle Sanz) who looks like a replica of her.
After Marion suddenly leaves in the middle of packing up the house, the two children meet and bond over building a treehouse in the woods. It rains, and Nelly’s look-alike proposes that they take shelter in her home. Upon entering the house, Nelly discovers that it’s almost a replica of her mother’s childhood home, with the only difference being it is new and livelier. Looking around the house, Nelly sees a young woman on the bed and the other child’s name written on a notebook: Marion, just like her mother.
Not knowing how to process this information, Nelly opts to tell young Marion she has to leave immediately. This vital part of the film gives the audiences a chance to immerse themselves entirely in Nelly’s point of view, compared to the first few moments of the film, where we see Nelly and her family from a distance as the story unfolds. Additionally, this immersion also prepares the audience for the journey they are about to go on with Nelly, in which she gains a better understanding of her mother.
Using Nelly as the audience’s entry point into Marion’s desires, we are able to better understand by spending time with the young version of her. Throughout the film, the two young girls continue to spend time together as Nelly’s father (Stéphan Varupenne) packs up the house, and we are shown glimpses of what young Marion might have wanted or needed as a child. For instance, when young Marion celebrates her birthday, we see how content she is with Nelly around as company. Marion even asks her Nelly and her mother mother (a young version of Nelly’s grandmother played by Margot Abascal) to sing another round of “Happy Birthday.” This hints at the sad reality that young Marion has felt lonely, as well as when she independently heats her chocolate milk over the stove, and later, when speaks about her grandmother dying in the past year.
The fact that the audience sees Marion as a child gives us insight into what she may have needed as a young girl — things she never got, the company she never had. With this angle, Sciamma gives us another layer to the film: the inner child. Everyone has theirs, most if not all stemming from who a person is before the hardships of life and trauma get in the way. Sciamma elevates this idea by telling the story from a child’s point of view, for suspension of disbelief can only go so far and would not work as well if it were shown from an older Marion’s perspective.
Petite Maman’s strength lies in the innocence of it all, in letting Nelly’s curiosity of her mother’s previous life take over, as well as allowing its main character to discover pieces of Marion over the course of the film. Overall, the premise of meeting a younger version of your mother requires a lot of work to be done properly, but it is done well in this film — considering that it’s Sciamma’s choice to follow Nelly’s perspective, making it the core of the film. With her point of view, seeds of innocence are planted all throughout different scenes. Particularly, moments where Nelly’s curiosity is on full display, such as those where she longs for answers as to why her mother left so suddenly, leaving her and her father to pack up the house. Throughout the film, Nelly is seen searching for answers, both literally and figuratively. She cannot fully understand yet, but the driving force is Nelly’s wish to decode her mother’s actions, hence her attempts to finish the treehouse Marion made as a child. This would not have worked as well if Nelly were older, given that younger children are full of imagination and naturally curious.
Sciamma’s decision to explore intergenerational trauma from a child’s point of view gives Nelly something her mother never got as a young girl — the privilege of healing. Mainly seen at the end of the film, Nelly admits to young Marion how afraid she is of the possibility of her mother not coming back, especially after seeing how unhappy she often is in the house. Young Marion replies, “I think it’s not your fault; you didn’t make me sad.”
While this brings out a confused look from Nelly, the words from young Marion eventually aid her in her healing process when she grows up. This scene gives Nelly a chance to make sense of things while also allowing her to be nurtured and cared for. By telling Nelly the words young Marion probably needed as well, it breaks the cycle of hurt that Nelly’s grandmother might have unknowingly passed on to Marion. When the two children say goodbye to one another, Nelly goes up to her grandmother’s young version and bids her farewell: this gives Nelly closure on both ends, one for her mother abruptly leaving and the other for her grandmother’s death.
Sciamma also admits to not showing emotional porn as a stylistic choice, meaning there were no scenes filled with flashbacks to Marion’s past or any callbacks to Nelly experiencing pain, which elevates the story even more by letting the audience fill in the gaps independently. Even though the painful parts were absent in the film, its omission aided the overall storytelling by allowing Nelly to be shielded from the emotionally taxing aspects of life that a child would not be ready to accept. The director also chooses to dwell on the more positive side of things, such as the ability to heal and break intergenerational trauma. We never see Nelly in pain, nor do we see Marion’s trauma, but the message is clear: we don’t need to be able to see in order to understand. In return, this shows the audience a nuanced take on how intergenerational trauma is seen on screen and the importance of healing your inner child.
