To be a mother or a daughter (or both) in the movies these days is to find oneself locked in a bitter cycle of generational angst, one so laced with resentment and adversarial feeling that only a supernatural crisis, apparently, can bring forth the possibility of reconciliation. What does it take for the two of them to see eye-to-eye — to regard each other not as clueless authoritarians or ungrateful dependents, but as unique and vulnerable individuals, deserving of sympathy rather than scorn? In the recent animated comedy "Turning Red," it requires some ancient shape-shifting sorcery. In the live-action multiverse fantasia "Everything Everywhere All at Once," it's an apocalyptic attack on human life, a threat that can only be neutralized through a bold declaration of mother-daughter love.
"Petite Maman," the quietly spellbinding new film from the French writer-director Celine Sciamma, proposes a gentler but no less radical alternative. The encounter at the heart of this movie, which runs just 72 minutes and will haunt you for long afterward, is magical precisely because of how seemingly unmagical it is. Notably, it arrives as a bittersweet balm for a relationship that, far from being combative, is suffused with warmth and tenderness. A heart-crushing early scene of 31-year-old Marion (Nina Meurisse), driving home while her 8-year-old, Nelly (Joséphine Sanz), passes her munchies from the backseat, tells you everything you need to know about their mutual adoration.
Which is not to say that there's nothing left for Marion and Nelly to discover about themselves or each other — quite the contrary. Marion has just lost her own mother after a long illness, and in the days that follow, she and her husband (Stephane Varupenne) go about the solemn task of cleaning out the house in which she grew up. Nelly, who was close to her grandmother but frets about not having wished her a proper goodbye, distracts herself by poring over her mom's old homework assignments and playing in the surrounding woods. That's where she meets another 8-year-old who looks just like her, with the same long brown hair and sharp, far-reaching gaze. She's played by Gabrielle Sanz (Josephine's identical twin sister), and her name is Marion.
