And what she learned from making Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Petite Mamanmay be small in scale, but its themes loom large.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve said that you didn’t really set out to make a time-travel movie.
Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz in ‘Petite Maman’.NEON
When did you realize this was the story you wanted to tell?
I didn’t see it at all as a time-traveling film.
Then at some point, I was like: “It’s a time-travel film.
Céline Sciamma.Claire Mathon
What am I going to do with that?
Do I want that?”
This story plays with time, but it also feels very timeless in its setting.
It feels like it could be set in any year, especially with the costumes and the production design.
Why was it important for you for this story to feel out of time?
That was the biggest decision, because that was the most contrary.
Usually if you travel through time, there’s the present, the past, and the future.
They had to exist in both timelines: the plugs, the sockets, everything.
That’s also because I wanted the film to be playing like a myth.
It’s a new mythology.
When I wrote the story I felt like, this is not my story.
This has been told several times, and it will be told [again].
It must be from a wider mythology.
It’s likeTurning Red.Have you seen it?
It’s so great, and it has a similar idea aboutmothers and daughters meeting face-to-face as children.
That’s common mythology, right?
That’s what happens when a lot of women speak at the same time.
It’s a crazy film, an amazing film, a beautiful film.
I’ve watched it three times already.
I thought, when did they start writing this?
It wasn’t competition around ideas or whatever, it was mostly about being enthusiastic.
It’s such a relief not to be alone.
Who wants to be first?
I don’t want to be the first of anything.
I want to be with others.
Nelly and Marion are played by real-life sisters, Josephine and Gabrielle Sanz.
Did they influence this story at all?
If they didn’t understand a sentence or an idea, then it disappeared.
“Yes, you wanted me.
“I’m not surprised.
I’m already thinking about you.”
and she said yes.
I really liked this idea, but I could see that they weren’t connecting to it.
As a kid, I felt pressured [to have kids].
I remember being told that.
But it means that they weren’t, and you know what?
Good for that generation.
I don’t know, maybe it’s because of climate anxiety.
But they don’t have that absolute pressure on their shoulder, pressuring them to imagine themselves as parents.
That’s why I picked sisters.
They know about that, so of course they’re going to play with this idea.
As long as you share all the info, then you benefit from their opinions as artists.
What was it that ultimately made you want to tell this story of hope and connection?
Well, the whole film is like a daydream.
Understanding someone is incredibly powerful, I think.
It’s great emotion, understanding someone.
The film is breaking the hierarchy of family, making a mother and a daughter equal.
What can we learn from that mythological situation?
We’ve been understanding ourselves and challenging ourselves and even healing ourselves through fiction.
I wanted to bring to life a fiction of true grief, which means some form of peace.
That could be useful.
That’s how this was designed.
Mythology is very, very modest.
What was it about the forest that you found intriguing?
I think I like the forest because I was also a tomboy.
Everyone knows about the trees.
Not everyone knows about the mountains and the sands and the sea.
It’s a very democratic landscape for fiction.
You madePetite MamanafterPortrait of a Lady on Fire, which became such a global success.
Is there something you feel like you learned from making that film?
It gave me the confidence to do this short film and to be playful.
You filmed this during the pandemic.
What was your most memorable day on set?
I think the moment I was most impressed by was with Josephine, who plays Nelly.
It’s a tracking shot, and it’s all about groove.
She had been walking in this flat for several days, and we had been understanding the rhythm.
For that sequence she said, “Yeah, yeah, I got this.”
I didn’t have to give her the rhythm or do [multiple] takes.
She just woke up and did this thing in the groove of the film.
It just felt like one of my greatest working moments.
This 9-year-old and this 43-year-old, making something together.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
