This is a beautiful film focusing on a little girl living in the French countryside with her mother and grand father. The story is set in a forest which lends a fairytale quality to the film. There is a general plot arc but the power of the film comes from setting a scene up and letting the little girl say and do much as she pleases. The result is a film of great integrity and honesty. Some viewers may be disturbed by themes of life and death in a rural farming community but ultimately this is a wonderful portrayal of the world from a child's perspective. The overall effect is to highlight the strange spiritual resilience of children which adults may miss due to assumptions of childhood innocence and vulnerability.

Us cityfolk have a tendency to romanticize life in the country. This movie sheds those notions immediately. Nana's grandfather shoots a pig very nonchalantly in front of children, including Nana, and burns the hair off of the body. We are told from the start that this is a harsh life.

It's a very simply executed movie. The camera is mostly just there to document Nana's life. It would be hard to feed such a young child any lines anyhow. It's actually quite unsettling. When Nana doesn't find her mother one day, she simply continues her life. I'm not a parent, but I still got this feeling of needing to protect her, but she is actually fine. On the other hand, the lack of emotional response to her mother's disappearance feels weird. Of course, she just isn't developed enough emotionally to fully understand the situation, but still I projected my desperate feeling on her.

It's actually kind of masterful and it's a pity that this movie is so pbscure. It's one of those movies that just stay with you.