Ponette

Four-year-old Ponette loses her mother in a car crash and survives with a broken arm. Her father leaves her with an aunt for a while. Ponette will not accept that her mother is dead; she believes she was promised a return and tries to work out what she has to do for it. The adults around her tell her contradictory things about religion, heaven and patience. The children at school are harsher. Jacques Doillon builds the child's side of grief almost entirely in the language of children. The camera stays at Ponette's height and adults often do not fully enter the frame. The narrative does not make the children charming; what they say to each other is blunt and illogical. Victoire Thivisol plays Ponette and won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival in 1996, the youngest recipient to date. Who it's for: Viewers who like French cinema, child-centred drama, and films about grief. Who it's not for: The subject is heavy and no relief comes at any point. The resolution at the end will not convince every viewer.