Petite Nature: A sensitive film about childhood to watch

Რ About?

Johnny is ten years old. But at his age he is only interested in adult stories. At her HLM apartment complex in Lorena, she curiously observes the troubled sentimental life of her young mother. This year he joins the class of Mr. Adamsky, a young teacher who believes in him and with whom he pushes the door to a new world.

with Alyosha Reinert, Antoine Reinartz, Melissa Olexa…

AlloCiné: is something disturbing and disturbing in little nature. We are talking about this feeling of admiration and riding. Was the film born with this feeling?

Samuel Tace, screenwriter and director: Yes, absolutely. The film really nurtures the experience I started working on. It is a personal experience that, moreover, was, in fact, much more explosive than in the film.

It took me some time to write the script precisely because I first had to deconstruct a bit of what happened and decipher what was at stake for me at the time. Because, as you say, there is admiration and admiration after a while is confused. And I think it also corresponds to the age at which it is the birth of desire, but also the intellectual awakening.

That’s what I was wondering about in the story of that age: this is indeed a boy who is on the verge of adolescence but is not yet entangled in questions related to adolescence. Identity.

At the age of 10 there was still great freedom of expression. I think children do not censor themselves. I wanted to rely on this experience and relive it, as you say, to create a bit of a disturbing feeling and even a sense of confusion, but it drew me to something romantic.

The age at which there is a birth of desire but also an intellectual awakening

We were talking about the Oedipus complex when you are in love with a parent and so on. And there, a little bit the same. This is unknown to man. This is what we all experience, it can be for the teacher, for the rescuer …

I think it all happened to all of us that in childhood we were a little in love with a teacher, a teacher or such a figure, a little mentor, a mentor. I think when you are a child, you often fall in love. What I am interested in with this film is that I am really trying to bring the experience of love desire to life, but as something serious. I think the film works on this somewhat underground question, which is: What is desire made of? I think there is a great deal of interest in him in adults or adults, very rarely in children.

However, this is also the age where we experience great uprisings. Sure, it’s frustrating, but there are also uprisings that can be difficult, that can complicate things.

The seriousness you are talking about also goes through the mystery. Live with inner suffering, inner life …

Yes, of course. Etymologically a child means one who does not speak. And I think the kid, really, is the one who is very observant, who watches a lot. The look in this question is cinema. I really wanted to always stay at his level, never leave his point of view and take on that face that is always under observation, always in the process of absorbing this adult world that fascinates him.

I really wanted to always stay at his height, this kind of shooting is always under supervision

From a teacher’s point of view, how would you describe a relationship?

It is literally almost a misunderstanding. He is a young teacher. It was important to me that he was young because there is still a form of naivety. This is also what we still believe in the ability to try to help children get out. This is the idea of ​​a Republican school. This idea that learning can not do without impact, for example. By the way, this is a real question: can we really get training if it is disembodied?

When this happens in children, such a disorder in adults, it is because, in fact, the potential in these children is seen by adults. And this is something that is hard to get and understand and that really requires a path. This is also the way I wanted to put it in the pictures.

John’s character is 10 years old. Aliocha Reinert, a young actress, was 11 years old. By no means do I want to convey that I recommend for the mother to be inactive. How did you manage to draw such a fair character? Are these the profiles you know you have met in your life? The same goes for the social environment. Were you not afraid for a moment to fall into a caricature, which is not the case?

As for the social environment, obviously, I come from there, so I’re just basing on the experience, the experience, and also on what the family environment was like, my social environment in Forbach.

We have no doubt how great the maturity is in children

But when it comes to maturity in children, I do not think we have any doubt about how great maturity is in children. In addition, I believe that children also sometimes play in childhood. We also have a bit of wickets in the charter. For example, while watching the movie, it is obvious that there is a maturity of the character as it is written in the dramaturgy, but there is also the maturity of Alyocha Reinert (the young actor playing the role of John) that revolves around the movie. .

His appearance is full because it is his appearance and therefore his understanding. You can direct an actor. But the direction of the actors is always communication. We need to agree on what is at stake. Should be understood organically. And it belongs to him at least once.

We just wondered if you were too transparent to say from the beginning “this is what this scene is about. That’s what it means.” Or fix something a bit?

No, no, I was very transparent, that was important. I do not give my script to the actors, so they could not read the script. But on the other hand, during the tests, when I really started to be interested in Alyosha, I spoke to her parents for the first time because I wanted to make sure that her parents were completely calm. And they were very smart because they told me you really have to ask that question to Alyosha. We were going to do this, but we continued in stages.

When I was really told a little bit about the character’s journey and what the scenes were supposed to be that were a little difficult to embody, he asked me to take a little more time to think about it. And I, at the age of 11, found it wonderful to ask myself, to think, to ask myself: I’m ready to assume this game. A few days later we did Skype and he told me: I do, I want to.

I know that sometimes, in directing, you can trap actors a bit or force them to play something, but install it in a different direction. No, I really wanted to be allies on the set.

There is an important theme in the film, it is sexuality. But this film is not about homosexuality at all. He is 11 years old. At this age we can understand that boys like us, but that does not apply to this. This is something else. How could you explain?

Glad to hear that, you mention it. Indeed, I think at this age it is difficult to define oneself, even with a sexual identity, even early. I think there is mimicry. Is something that, for example, feeds on the observation of the mother’s sexuality.

It’s a pretty gendered environment around him, so he masters that too. He tries to reproduce a few of these items, as well as a small number of means of expression. I asked myself a lot of questions, but because it applies to adults as well. What does sexual desire consist of? It’s not just chemistry between two people. In sexuality there is a mental construction. So what is at stake? What does it crystallize? What is projection?

I told myself that at this age I was also at stake in the desire to bring up, to save almost a little, to cut myself off from the environment. The issue of social defect is complex. (…) I do not try to give an unambiguous answer. But I try to explore different areas and different dimensions.

Interview at the Cannes Film Festival in July 2021 by Thomas Desros and Bridget Barone