Guest of “CLAP!” On Europe 1 on Saturday, director Céline Sciamma presented her latest film, “Petite Maman”, which hits theaters on Wednesday.

Imagined as a journey through time, it tells the story of a little girl who befriends her mother, who has become a child again. 

INTERVIEW

"It's a journey through time that tells the present."

With her new film 

Little Mum

, in theaters on Wednesday, director Céline Sciamma offers an "experience abolishing the past, the present and the ages", in which a little girl befriends her mother who has become a child again.

“The idea came to me like an apparition, like an image. That of a little girl who built a cabin with her mother at the same age,” says the director, who was invited to

CLAP on

Saturday

!

on Europe 1. 

Inspired by Miyazaki's films

The film tells the story of an eight-year-old girl, Nelly, who loses her grandmother.

After a farewell at the retirement home, she leaves with her parents to empty the grandmother's house, nestled in the woods.

Near a cabin built at the foot of a tree by her mother child, Nelly meets a little girl, named Marion, like her mother.

"It's a fantastic film but it tells the story of real life: children also take care of their parents," says Céline Sciamma. 

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The director of 

Portrait of the Girl on Fire

and

The Birth of the Octopuses

explains that she drew her inspiration from other films featuring children and time travel, such as

Big

, by Penny Marshall, in which a little boy does the wish to grow up and ends up in the body of a 30 year old man.

It also points to the major influence of Hayao Miyazaki's animated films.

"Whenever I had any doubts about the directing, I wondered what Miyazaki would have done," smiles the director. 

A short format, suitable for children

Céline Sciamma hopes with this new film to encourage viewers to imagine their own journey through time.

“All configurations are possible. Since I had this idea, I have had fun imagining lots of childish encounters with the people I love. The real question is what we would choose to share if the 'we had the opportunity to meet differently. " 

The film is carried by its two young actresses, two twin sisters, Gabrielle and Joséphine Sanz.

Relatively short, the film lasts only 1h12.

“I wanted to align myself with the format with which children are most comfortable,” explains the director.