For her first feature film, Julie Lerat-Gersant pushes the doors of a maternal center and shows the daily life of pregnant teenagers or young mothers. In competition in the “Filmmakers of the Present” category, the film has already won over audiences and critics in Locarno.
Between an absent father and a toxic mother, Camille (Pili Groyne), 16 and pregnant, finds herself placed in a maternal center by a judge. She befriends Alison, an immature young mother, and struggles against the authority of Nadine (Romane Bohringer), an educator as passionate as she is disillusioned. Stay? Leave? To keep the child or not? So many decisions that the young girl will have to make and which will upset her destiny.
In competition at the Locarno festival in the “Cinéastes du present” category, “Petites” is Julie Lerat-Gersant’s first feature film. Her scenario took root ten years ago when the Frenchwoman, then active in the theatrical world, gave writing workshops in a maternal center which welcomed young pregnant girls in Normandy.
“I was completely struck and disarmed by meeting these young mothers who were between 15 and 18 years old and who presented an explosive mix between a very great youthfulness and parental responsibilities. It made me want to place the writing of my first fiction in this place.”
>> To see, the trailer for “Petites”:
Close to documentary
When the project becomes concrete, the director spends about ten weeks in eight maternal centers before writing a first version of her screenplay. Once the film project has materialized with its producers, she returns to the field to confront the writing of this scenario with the opinion of educators and psychologists. “The idea was to avoid any Manichaeism and to try to be as close as possible to reality”. She sees her project almost as a documentary, “in the writing at least”, she specifies.
In the film, Romane Bohringer plays the role of Nadine, the educator who runs the center. A character who presents a kind of synthesis of all the professionals that Julie Lerat-Gersant has met. Arrived in the middle of her career, Nadine is tired by the profession. The arrival of Camille will awaken her vocation.
The film “Petites” by Julie Lerat-Gersant [DR]
A film full of life
“Petites” begins with a very strong inaugural scene carried out with a bang thanks to the editing of Mathilde Van de Moortel (César for best editing in 2016 for “Mustang”).
“When she arrives at the maternal center, Camille is thrown into a world of adults with responsibilities too great for her little shoulders. She doesn’t understand anything, she doesn’t know the rules. We wanted the viewer to have the same sensation”, explains the director. Depending on the heroine’s state of mind, the rhythm of the film will then gradually calm down.
“Petites” was unanimous among critics and the public met at the end of one of the screenings in Locarno. A good omen for this film full of life.
>> See also the 7:30 p.m. topic devoted to “Petites”:
Interview by Pierre Philippe Cadert
Web adaptation: Andréanne Quartier-la-Tente