Ponette

Rating:
Summary: STUNNING AND CAPTIVATING
Review: One of the guys who works at a local video store that I frequent, when I asked about this film, said 'It's probably the saddest film ever made.' Whoa. That's a pretty strong statement, and it further tweaked my curiosity. When I finally got around to watching it, I could see where he was coming from - but there's a lot more to this fine piece of filmmaking than that. This is definitely one of the most moving films I've ever seen - and the performance by 4 year-old actress Victoire Thivisol (who portrayed Anouk in CHOCOLAT so well, 'later in her career') is absolutely stunning. I saw the blurb on the cover touting her 'best actress' award at the Vienna Film Festival for her work in PONETTE - it's easy to see why.

Written and directed by Jacques Doillon, PONETTE tells the story of a very young girl coming to terms with grief and death - hard enough for anyone, but her first experience centers on the death of her mother in a car accident. Ponette was in the car as well - she wears a cast on her left arm for the entire film - so she has that trauma to deal with also. Her father isn't around much - he leaves her in the care of her aunt Claire - and when he's with Ponette, he seems to have difficulty exercising empathy and understanding with her, which could easily be due to his own grief over the death of his wife.

With the help of her cousins, her aunt, a few understanding schoolmates, a very sensitive and kind teacher, and the strength of her own spirit, Ponette makes the journey to healing. Getting conflicting advice on death and religion from several quarters, she searches for the path that resonates with truth within her. The performance Victoire Thivisol turns in here will astound you - I can't recall ever seeing a child this young in a role so demanding do such a fine job.

The ending - to which some reviewers have taken exception - worked into the film nicely, I thought. Much of an individual's objection to it (and I won't spoil it) has to do with his or her own beliefs and feelings - but I thought it fit the story here very well.

A minor note -- the information on this product page is a little confusing. It says 'color/widescreen/Dolby', and then in the 'further details' page says 'full-screen' under 'features'. The film is in full-screen format on the DVD -- but this certainly doesn't detract from the enjoyment of it.

All in all - I can recommend this film VERY highly, but as another reviewer wisely advised, have a box of tissues handy.

Rating:
Summary: Simply the best film about children ever made.
Review: There are some great films about kids--Kolya, My Life As A Dog, The Grand Highway, Forbidden Games--and even some of the Disney films aren't bad, such as the remake of Parent Trap. Not to mention the Our Gang series and the Shirley Temple films, many of which hold up remarkably well. But Ponette stands by itself, as you can probably tell from the other reviews here.

One film buff told me it's the first movie she's ever seen that made her cry. Now by "cry" I don't mean you'll be dabbing at your eyes with a Kleenex or two. You're going to need the whole box. Seeing it with a friend? Get a second box. It doesn't even need the element of surprise. I've only seen it once, two years ago, in a theatre. You know how at the end of a film everyone gets up, yakking about where to go for a bite to eat and whatnot? At the end of Ponette all you could hear was sniffling. Unique in my theatre-going experience. Even now I can't talk about it without tearing up.

But please don't avoid it because you're afraid it will make you too sad. Ponette may break your heart but you'll be a better person for it, and you'll thank Doillon and Thivisol and the rest of the cast and crew and distributors for it. It's the kind of film that inspires kindness, not moroseness. Ever after, when you feel the urge to do something mean-spirited, you'll see Ponette's face and that may well change your mind. If this sounds a over the top you just haven't seen this film. The original purpose of art was to inspire people to live up to their society's ideals, and do it in an entertaining, compelling way. This does that in spades. I've read some reviews that called it slow moving, pointless etc. I feel sorry for those reviewers. You will too.

I'm also writing Fox/Lorber to beg them to reissue this on DVD in letterbox. I can't believe they'd think the kind of people who'd buy a DVD of Ponette are the sort of yahoos who'd want a third of the image cut away.

--Lee Thé

Rating:
Summary: a film to remember
Review: I saw this movie when it was playing in select theaters while on vacation. I sat there alone at the theater just there to relax. I had read great reviews about the film - but was not prepared for just how much this film would mean to me. I cried and laughed and understood along with Ponette and her friends - there in the movie theater. A couple of years later, my own father passed away of who I was extremely close to. Even though I was already an adult, watching Ponette a couple years prior came into my memory when dealing with my fathers death. I could relate to the way people around me tried to "help" me deal with the passing - to how Ponette's friends and family also helped her. If you've ever lost a parent or someone very close to you, this movie will pull at your heartstrings..and will become a friend to you knowing that you're not alone in having to cope in your own unique way.
I recommend this movie to everyone (even those who have not experienced death of a loved one). The child actors are AMAZING, it's like they aren't acting and this is just a home video. I recently watched Chocolat (without paying attention in advance to who was acting in it) and Anouk's face was sooo familiar to me. I couldn't wait to see the ending credits to confirm it was Victoire Thivisol - the little girl who played Ponette. She's an amazing actress!

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: "Ponette" is an amazing movie. I think what made it so successful was the realness and the exploration into a child's mind. It was very touching to look at and focus on the child's pain over the death of a parent. Sometimes we tend to forget how strong the feelings of the very young people are. After losing her mother to a car accident, 4-year-old Ponette feels lost and alone, but she never stops believing that her mother is there. There's no doubt that her aunt, cousins, and even her father care about her, but they can't seem to help Ponette in the way she needs, so Ponette must develop a method of coping herself, as only a very young child could.

Victoire Thivisol's acting is something to remember. While I won't deny that they got an absolutely incredible performance out of her, there is something strange about it when you look into those big sad eyes. And when she cries.....there's definitely something wrong if you aren't touched by this in some form. I was appalled. This four-year-old little girl is crying so hard she can barely breathe....and she is only acting! I can't even think of a real-life situation where someone of that age cried like that. Makes you wonder how the directors got her to do it......

"Ponette" is a very honest and emotional display of human suffering through the eyes of a child. Thivisol's performance is, of course, a standout, and the two who portrayed her cousins are very good, too. The red-haired one actually reminds me a lot of the way my cousin was at that age. They even look alike, too. It was funny to see. =)

Do not miss this movie. It will make you use every emotion you have, but it is worth every piece of your heart.

Rating:
Summary: Emotional and very moving...
Review: I seen this movie a few weekends ago and it is heart wrenching and beautifully filmed.
Everything about the movie is fine except the ending where she (Ponette) meets the actress who plays her mother. The conclusion was very awkward and it seemed like a quick closing to an otherwise fine film.
The young child that plays the abandoned Ponette has an innocence about her that is fresh to see on screen. It's almost like you are peering inside private behind close doors grieving episodes because it looks so
true to life!
This has subtitles but the movie is paced well and there are just so many emotional scenes that you rally should take
some kleenex.
Lots of mothers will be touched by this movie or parents that wonder about the emotional life & growth of a very young child traveling through turbulent waters. Time doesn't heal all sorrow but it comes with personal growth which you can see in this film.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, miraculous, perfect
Review: What a movie! And what a performance by the little girl in the title role. Having been a professional actor for many years, I can tell you without reservation that I have never ever seen a child of four give a performance such as this. This is the story of a little girl who, after her mother is killed in an automobile accident, must somehow come to terms with her grief, lonliness, and her powerlessness. She also must somehow make sense of a world she does not fully understand, and a God she seemingly cannot communicate with. It is all done from the child's point of view, and beautifully and sensitively portrayed. I laughed and wept, but am still, after many viewings, totally in awe. I can't imagine anyone not being touched by this film.

Rating:
Summary: Do yourself a favor and see this film....
Review: It seems nearly impossible to watch "Ponette" and not be completely spellbound at the conclusion of such an emotional roller coaster ride of a film. No other film that you see in your life will likely come even close to matching the uniqueness, emotion, strength, and amazing depth of this story. Before watching it, however, note that this is not merely a movie depicting natural human suffering; it is the heartbreaking plight of a child, a 4-year-old little girl whose situation may very well be something that few of us can claim to have actually experienced ourselves. Therefore, we are drawing ourselves in to this child's story and are learning an important lesson on human suffering from her. The emotions are formed beautifully and are strikingly accurate throughout the film, but be warned that you are not going to be able to look into this little girl's eyes without feeling your heart breaking and going completely out to her.

I doubt that any of us could say anything other than "amazing" when describing the acting job of four-year-old Victoire Thivisol in this movie. For having to play a child who has just lost her mother and is having her emotions almost completely rejected and ignored by the other people in her life, Thivisol turns in a performance that makes you wonder what children know that we don't. After seeing this film a few times, I have started to examine Thivisol's intense crying scenes a little closer. This isn't a child who's just yukking it up for the camera; look into those big, heartbroken eyes and see a little girl who has become her character to the maximum full, both inside and out. While this was basically the only way to help us get the best possible vision of what the child in the title role was feeling inside, it is also disturbing to see that kind of thick emotion from such a young child actress in a movie This is the only reason that I refrained from giving the film a full five stars; Thivisol's acting seemed just a tad too real. Still, I give this amazing little girl big-time credit for taking on such a complex and emotionally demanding role in such a deeply rooted film.

"Ponette" is certainly a heartbreaker, but it ends with a strong enough degree of hope to prevent it from being completely depressing and unbearable. Through the pain of watching this child go through such trauma, you are drawn by her courage and inspired by her eventual ability to cope in a way that can ONLY be done and taught by a child.

Bottom line? It's emotionally pushing, but at the same time, you will not regret a single tear or grain of emotion that you have given to little Ponette.

Rating:
Summary: painful, but worthy of a thousand viewings...
Review: Ponette is amazing. This little girl (Thivisol) has an ability I have never seen eclipsed by anyone of any age. Her role was convincing, and intense, and, above all, heart-wrenching. Honestly, not much more can be said about the film than: Beautiful, inspiring, and real. Real-life.

Rating:
Summary: The most beautiful film experience you could ever want
Review: Okay, I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said about Victoire Thivisol's performance: I'll just say that I agree that it is the most astounding "acting" I've ever seen, by far the most natural and heartbreaking ever captured on film, in my humble opinion. I was not surprised to hear about the controversy surrounding it, either. It is obvious that this little girl lived her character as no other actor has done (save possibly Bjork in "Dancer in the Dark") and I'm sure it was a harrowing experience for her. At the same time, though, that her suffering was, to some extent real, so were her emotions at the film's close. I have tremendous faith in the resiliency of a child with that kind of spirit. Besides, have you ever seen kids play "pretend"? The fact is, they invest a lot more belief in their own fictions than we do, even on a daily basis.

The other thing I'd like to say is that I see in this film a scathing and none too subtle chastisement of the Catholic faith, and in particular what adults do to children when they assume a young, pure mind can somehow wrap itself around all that convoluted mess of fiction, mythology, shame, guilt and contradictions. Ponette goes to one after the other of the adults in her life for help, and each one delivers another religiously inspired diatribe on Jesus, heaven, the saints and letting go of her mother. Doillon cleverly uses the children to mimic the adults: when Ponette turns to her classmates for help, they invent spells and obstacle courses for her to go through-- something like jumping from rock to rock, and if you touch the mud you go to hell, or something similar. To be fair, though, Ponette's father, obviously an atheist, does her no better.

In the end, Ponette has to find her own way. And I do NOT think the end was a cop-out. I found it to be a beautiful, lyrical ending to Ponette's quest that delivered a powerful message about the love between a mother and her daughter, and the power and purity of a child's belief.

Rating:
Summary: Cinema has existed so Ponette could be made
Review: I have yet to encounter someone who sees Ponette start to finish (tranquilly and without interruptions as I'd suggest), and doesn't come back saying it's likely the most beautiful, pure, and original film they've ever seen.

Though the theme (tracking a four-year-old girl following her mother's death--NOT a documentary, and the actress was actually "discovered" at age 3) may superficially sound overly-dramatic, depressing, or artsy, it's NOT, and the film succeeds thoroughly without peer in simply, naturally, and purely capturing the life, thoughts, and perspective of a very young child first and foremost. I've never seen anything else anywhere like this.

Ponette is a rare and unique gem--the kind of film that makes the rest of moviemaking somehow justified, the kind of film that makes the world a better place, the kind of film to be considered perhaps the only absolute "must-see" or else one's life is incomplete. When it comes to film history, this one's going down as a very major classic and enormous groundbreaker that I don't expect to ever be parallelled in my lifetime.

Seeing Ponette is a very very very rare "must", but be properly prepared for a real film and potentially life-changing experience.

[It might be noted that the lead actress (Victoire Thivisol) has since appeared as the daughter in Chocolat (with Juliette Binoche). One can only hope that her cinematic and psychological "purity" remain unscathed, particularly by the American mainstream. Quite the rare and magnificent natural she is.]