
DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708270122

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie Review 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

YOUNG ``PONETTE'' STAR COULD WIN OSCAR

``PONETTE'' IS AN astounding film achievement that gets to the very heart of childhood. The film's simplicity, sparked by an awesome performance by Victoire Thivisol, captures innocence in a way that has seldom been attempted before.

She will have you on the verge of tears one moment and bursting with laughter the next.

Ms. Thivisol, who is just 4, has the face of a hurt angel. She could well become the youngest Academy Award winner in history. No one who sees the film would argue with such a choice. She's already won the ``best actress'' accolade at the Venice Film Festival.

Ponette, the fictional lead character, is a little girl who simply can't understand why, or how, her mother has died. She believes, against hope, that her mother, killed in an automobile accident, has simply gone away and will return soon.

Director Jacques Doillon held workshops with the children who perform in the film. Their ``lines'' are often their own, yet they knew they were playing roles. He claims that he never asked little Victoire to cry. ``She was moved enough by how she was feeling that she would cry. Crying is so natural for children,'' he has said. However he did it, he elicited a performance that is 100 percent a performance - 100 percent Ponette and outside Victoire Thivisol herself.

Interestingly, the film credits a ``children's coach'' and ``children's psychoanalyst'' among its crew.

Although this film gets more to the heart of death than a hundred philosophical treatises, don't for a moment stay away from it because you think it may be downbeat. It is often hilarious. The fantasies and logic of the children are both poignant and comedic. You'll howl with laughter at how the children define the differences between Catholics, Jews and Arabs. Their view of religion, in general, is a refreshing theological trip.

Seldom has any film attempted, much less achieved, to so effectively capture the world as children might see it.

Xavier Beauvois is thoughtful and caring as the young father who must leave Ponette in the care of her aunt. She tearfully gives him Teddy, one of her treasures, while he gives her his watch for remembrance. Her most constant companion is a doll, with whom she shares her most private thoughts.

For anyone who has ever lost a loved one, or ever will, this film will have special meaning. Ultimately, Ponette is healed by her own fantasies and those of her classmates. The film sends us from the theater on a wave of hope and good feeling.

It shows us, brilliantly, the kind of spontaneity that all of us lose simply by becoming adults. It is a film about children, but for adults.

Don't miss it.

Could it be that this year's Oscar winner for ``best actress'' may have to miss kindergarten to attend the ceremonies? Yes, it could. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ARROW FILM

As Ponette, 4-year-old Victoire Thivisol will touch your heart.

Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

``Ponette''

Cast: Victoire Thivisol, Xavier Beauvois, Marie Trintignant

Director/Writer: Jacques Doillon

MPAA rating: Not Rated (too intense for children - an adult film

about children)

Mal's rating: four stars

Where: Opens Friday at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach