Céline Sciamma‘s “Petite Maman” is finally being legitimately released in theatres this weekend. What took so long? it received a tepid Oscar-qualifying run in one L.A. Movie theatre last December and that was it.
Despite a lack of being seen, Sciamma’s jewel of a movie was listed on 106 top ten lists in 2021, probably from critics who were lucky enough to have caught its festival run at either Berlin, Toronto, Telluride, New York and Chicago.
Sciamma has become an overnight sensation in the American indie scene, but in France, her body of work has been well-known for close to a decade. After debuting “Portrait of A Lady on Fire” at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, a sumptuously made 121-minute triumph which simmers with slow-burn until it breaks your heart, Sciamma gained a much larger contingent of fans worldwide.
I wrote about “Petite Maman” at the Toronto International Film Festival on 09.18.21.