My Little Princess
| My Little Princess | |
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French poster
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| Directed by | Eva Ionesco |
| Produced by | François-Xavier Frantz |
| Written by |
Eva Ionesco Marc Cholodenko Philippe Le Guay |
| Starring |
Isabelle Huppert Anamaria Vartolomei Denis Lavant Louis-Do de Lencquesaing |
| Music by | Bertrand Burgalat |
| Cinematography | Jeanne Lapoirie |
| Edited by | Laurence Briaud |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Sophie Dulac Distribution |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | France Romania |
| Language | French English Romanian |
My Little Princess is a 2011 French-Romanian drama film directed by Eva Ionesco and inspired by her relationship with her mother, the well-known artistic photographer Irina Ionesco whose pictures of her young daughter aroused discussions when they were published back in the 1970s. The film illustrates a situation which at first glance seems to be a paradox: whilst revealing more and more of her daughter to the public the mother seems to get increasingly estranged from her and vice versa.
Violetta is raised by her grandmother ("Mamie", the French equivalent of "Grandma"). Her mother Hanna tries to make a living on taking photographs and concentrates on her dreams to become a famous artist. In order to succeed as an artist she doesn't worry about dating men of questionable reputation. Only every now and then her mother visits her daughter but during these occasions it occurs to her that her daughter could be a potential model. She starts exploiting her daughter who by transforming into a kind of Lolita becomes increasingly alienated from other children of her age. At school she is eventually frequently insulted and rejected. Then Mamie dies and Hanna's photographs are about to unequivocally overstep the line of acceptability. Hanna even coerces Violetta mercilessly into cooperation by withholding her food in case she doesn't agree to pose for increasingly daring photographs. Eventually Hanna's right of custody for her twelve-year-old daughter is at stake.
German magazine Focus found Anamaria Vartolomei was convincing as a young girl whose life eventually turns into a nightmare because of her mother's artistic ambitions in 1970s Paris.
Painful personal experience is distilled into poignant drama in Eva Ionesco’s promising first feature My Little Princess. Autobiographical events from the 1970s are shaped into a fairytale-like narrative illuminating the abusive nature of Ionesco’s relationship with her mother Irina and eternal arguments over the limits of artistic freedom.
Critics also commented that Anamaria Vartolomei and Isabelle Huppert have portrayed the lack of affection so convincingly that they have even been accused of interacting insufficiently as actors. Regarding this, Huppert told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview that shooting of the film had been one of her more peculiar professional experiences because on the set she had had the feeling she was indeed the director's mother.
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Wikipedia