Ponette

Hadn’t had a really good blub in a while?

Well, your days of sobbing uncontrolably into your pouches are over, my furry little marsupials.

Ponette isn’t a new film. It came out in 1996, but I felt I had to share it with the class.

It tells the story of Ponette – A four year old French girl coping with the death of her mother in a car crash. (In which she was also involved.)

Her father has to go away and work, (like you would leave your daughter at a time like that), so she is sent to stay with her aunt and her children in the French Alps.

The film centres around how Ponette copes, not just with the loss of her mother, but how other children react to her. (Oooh, Kids can be cruel.) She tries everything to get her mother to come back, from magic chants to turning to god.

What I really love about this film is that it is shot predominantly from a child’s POV.

Very rarely do we see an adult in shot unless they are bending down or in a wide shot. (Or Extreme close up.)

It really does help the viewer see things from Ponette’s POV. Played heartbreakingly by Victoire Thivisol. (Apparently, there was a psychologist on set the entire time to make sure she wasn’t suffering any trauma as a result of playing the role.)

So, if you’re into your art house movies, I suggest you get a copy off Amazon.

But make sure you have a family-sized box of Kleenex handy. I defy even a psychopathic autistic savant not to be turned into a quivering mass of tissue and snot after seeing this one.

Directed by Jaques Doillon
Written by Rahul Dodhia
Starring Victoire Thivisol.