Ponette
(DVD)

Originally produced as a French motion picture in 1996.

Special features: Trailer (3 min.); Production credits [text feature]; Filmographies & awards [text feature].

Image [photography], Caroline Champetier ; montage [editor], Jacqueline Lecompte ; musique, Philippe Sarde ; subtitles, Andrew Litvack.

Victoire Thivisol (Ponette), Matiaz Bureau Caton (Matiaz), Delphine Schiltz (Delphine), Léopoldine Serre (Ada), Luckie Royer (Luc), Carla Ibled (Carla), Antoine du Merle (Antoine), Marie Trintignant (la Mère), Claire Nebout (la Tante), Aurélie Vérillon (la fille de l'Internat), Xavier Beauvois (le Père).

Ponette is a sad little girl. She has survived a car crash that killed her mother and left her with a broken arm. Her father takes to live with an aunt, who has two children roughly her age, explaining to his tearful, disbelieving daughter that her mother is not coming back. Not understanding the finality of death in an adult way, Ponette wonders why if Jesus gets to rise from the dead, why can't her mother? Thrown into a new environment, however, Ponette begins to heal and grow up in spite of herself. While grappling with confusing religious issues, and trying to understand the meaning of life and death, the film delves into the magical world of a four-year old, where stuffed animals have extraordinary powers, dolls are more than inanimate objects, and God is someone you can talk to and expect an answer from.

Not rated.

DVD; NTSC; stereo.

In French with subtitles in English.

Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize-Jacques Doillon, OCIC Award-Jacques Doillon, Sergio Trasatti Award-Jacques Doillon, and the Volpi Cup [for] Best Actress-Victoire Thivisol, at the 1996 Venice Film Festival.

DVD