How sad is this?

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This is one of my favorite films of all time. It deals in a beautiful and complete manner with the way children perceive and process grief. The child in the lead role, Victoria Thivisol is astonishing and the rest of the cast are intuitive, strong, and poignant. The director is adept at letting the children in the film express the nuances of childhood: tenderness, confusion, mean-spiritedness, trust, humor, and deep sadness. This is a difficult and beautiful film to watch but please trust me when I say that it is a complete circle...it doesn't strand the viewer in a world of grief. This film is a gorgeous, difficult, complex poem.

I have wanted to see this movie for a very long time. At the time it was released, my own Mother had suddenly died and I knew that it would have been too intense for me to watch. Now, it is almost 11 years later and I have finally watched it and this is quite simply one of the most true to life portrayals of grief and the journey it becomes for really anyone. I was Ponettes age when my father died and I can completely relate to her reactions, her agony and the confusion she portrayed. I can remember asking constantly when Daddy was coming back and not really accepting the answers that people were telling me. I also recall praying and talking to my father when I was alone in my room, begging him to come back and see me when no one else was around. I even had a dream about my father that was amazingly close to Ponettes interaction with her mother. This rang so true for me that I couldn't believe the writer of this story connected things in such a realistic way. Victoire Thivisol is shockingly real in this role. I cannot believe she was only 4 years old when this was filmed! It's a fascinating study of a shields emotional response to such a tragic event and quite honestly, I am at a total loss of words as to how to describe the power of this movie. I can only tell you that if you are looking for something intense and engrossing, this would be your movie. I really appreciated the feeling it left me with at the end too.....that life is not always easy and predictable but that humans are remarkably resilient beings who can actually grow in wonderful ways from the events that challenge us the most.

I love everything about this film. The cast portrayed their characters well; the script presented a variety of philosophical viewpoints; and many of the interactions between the children were symbolic of religion in the adult world. Those who would be thrown off by this sort of a thing should not worry, because there are plenty of sweet moments and a very satisfying ending. And I must say that that little girl's performance was utterly stunning. Amazingly enough, she was four years old during filming. I would recommend it to anyone with a brain or a heart.

A really heart-breaking, beautiful movie, made all the more stunning by the fact that much of the acting is done by small children. On one level it is about a 4 year old losing her mother, but on a deeper level it is about man's search for God, and the mysteries of faith (why does God allow bad things to happen to good people, what happens when you die, etc.). Much of the film is really an exploration of the transcendent aspects of God's nature (i.e. - the parts that are beyond human understanding), disguised as childish speculation. This film is also about childhood, the way it should be - filled with loving, caring, wise adults that always have time for children. Ponette's aunt is the mother you wish you had had, and the housekeeper at her school a close second. The only jarring note is Ponette's father - perhaps he is just overcome with grief, but you get the feeling that he is just a little too wrapped up in himself, and never really wanted to be a father.There have been many complaints on this site about the movie's ending, but anyone who thinks that it is unrealistic has probably never lost a loved one. When Ponette in her agony of grief tries to dig her mother out of the grave with her bare hands I thought "I know that feeling." Her mother appearing to her and telling her to be happy is a child's-eye version of the stage in the adult grieving process when you realize that it's OK to let go; that getting on with life does not mean forgetting.