French director Céline Sciamma has rarely taken a wrong turn in her many explorations of youth, gender, and sexual identity among girls and young women, most recently captured in her films Girlhood and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Now Sciamma is back and spinning a tale of fantasy, tragedy, and friendship with Petite Maman, a film inspired by the works of Studio Ghibli legend Hayao Miyazaki. And after watching the new trailer you’ll be able to see elements of My Neighbor Totoro all over it.
The film stars Joséphine Sanz as eight year-old Nelly, who after the death of her grandmother and disappearance of her mother, retreats to the woods where she encounters Marion, played by Joséphine’s twin sister Gabrielle. Marion not only shares Nelly’s mother’s name, but she lives in a home similar to her late grandmother’s. A fairy tale friendship sparks between the two, one in which the past and present meet.
In a recent interview with Empire, Sciamma talked about her love of Miyazaki’s work, and what influences she drew from it for this film…
“I used him as a compass…He takes children seriously, he takes female characters seriously. He has a serious connection to nature. Sometimes to solve a question on set I would ask, ‘What would Miyazaki do?’”
Petite Maman opens on April 22nd.
