I've been DYING to see the French movie Ponette for a loooong time now. From all accounts, Victoire Thivisol gives the best child performance ever as a little girl grieving over her mother's death.Not kidding, people. She won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival back in 1996 when she was only Five. Years. Old.
I know what you're thinking. She probably only won because she's so cute. There's no way a child that young could give a performance strong enough to take home the Volpi Cup.
Yeah, that's what I thought too. So I've done some reading. Roger Ebert said this of Thivisol's performance: "As played by Thivisol, Ponette is a small, blond, round-faced girl, very solemn much of the time, and the film follows her with an intensity that requires her to give a real performance - not as a 'child actor,' but as a real actor who has to negotiate tricky dialogue and situations. She does."
I must see this film and this miraculous performance. Trouble is, I can't find it!
It's not at any of my local video stores. Netflix doesn't have it. I had decided to just buy it online (something I never do with unseen movies), but yet again, there's a problem. The DVDs are in French with only French and Korean subtitles. Well, I speak English and Spanish, but not French and not Korean.
So it's looking like my only option is to buy the DVD, start learning French, and in three to five years when I'm fluent, watch the movie. There has got to be another way. Anyone know where I can find Ponette in English? Anyone?
2 comments:
It's on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Porzellankaktus&view=videos&start=20) in 10, 10minute segments (roughly) with english subtitles if you want to go that route. No clue about the legality there.
Beyond that I didn't see it prominently out there.
You are a lifesaver! Thanks so much. For some reason I didn't think to check Youtube. My thoughts on Thivisol's performance coming soon. :)
Post a Comment