Ponette

The world through the eyes of 4-year-old Ponette (Victoire Thivisol), who's just survived the car crash that killed her mother: How can the view seem so muted and flat? We first meet Ponette in the hospital, then join her as she drives through the country with her father (Xavier Beauvois), whose grief manifests itself in anger at his wife's carelessness. He leaves Ponette with her aunt (Claire Nebout), and the child plays -- or doesn't -- with young cousins Delphine (Delphine Schiltz) and Matiaz (Matiaz Bureau) before all three youngsters are sent to boarding school (a move that, given their tender ages, is hard for Americans to fathom). The film's exploration of t...