Ponette (1996) - film review

Ponette, a four year old girl, must come to terms with her grief following the death of her mother in a car accident.  She gets little sympathy and support from her atheistic father, who just dumps her with her aunt whilst he goes back to work.   Her aunt and her young friends confuse her with a mixture of religion and fantasy, until she ends up believing that her mother will come back to visit her...

Ponette is an unusual film about bereavement seen through the eyes of a young girl.  That girl is played by Victoire Thivisol in a truly captivating and believable performance, one that won her best actress at the 1996 Venice Film Festival.  For the most part, the camera is transfixed on the young girl’s face, which shows a remarkable array of emotions.  From the start, the audience forms an immediate empathy with her, and sees the the world through her eyes.  Even in the scenes with Marie Trintingant at the end of the film, it is the alluring Thivisol who holds our attention.

Undoubtedly, it is Victoire Thivisol more than anything which carries the film.  Without an actress of her calibre, this would probably have been a very dull and inaccessible film – watching young children at play can be entrancing in real-life, but it does not necessarily make good cinema.  Thivisol’s compelling on-screen presence renders the rambling narrative and even the jarring fantasy ending pardonable.

© James Travers 2002

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