Product Description

{Nominated Palme d'Or, Claude Miller-- Cannes Film Festival 2003}

{Winner! Silver Hugo Best Female Performance, Ludivine Sagnier-- Chicago Int'l Film Festival 2003}

{Winner! Best Supporting Actress, and Most Promising Actress, Julie Depardieu-- César Awards, France 2004}

Ludivine Sagnier stars as Lili, the love and muse of an idealistic young filmmaker in this modern adaptation of Chekov's classic play The Seagull.

The story revolves around Mado, a movie-star past her prime who owns an elegant chateau in the serene French countryside. Mado's lover Brice is a successful director who continues to cast Mado in his films. Her son Julien, an aspiring filmmaker, despises his "sell-out" mother, but at the same time yearns for her approval. Lili, Julien's girlfriend, is intent on escaping the lowly life of a poor country girl and dreams of stardom. When Julien screens his new DV art-film starring Lili, the delicate peace in their house begins to unravel.

An excellent ensemble cast of actors including Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool), the striking young actor Robinson Stévenin, the up and coming Julie Depardieu (Les Destineés), Nicole Garcia (Alias Betty), Jean-Pierre Marielle (Tous les Matins du Monde) and Bernard Giraudeau (Ridicule).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59335 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-08-23
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
Inspired by The Seagull, Claude Miller's La Petite Lili takes place in present day Brittany. While Chekhov’s play was set in a theatrical milieu, longtime Truffaut associate Miller (Alias Betty) sets his film in a cinematic one (a là Day For Night). The title character is an aspiring actress (Ludivine Sagnier, Swimming Pool), who is seeing experimental filmmaker Julien (Robertson Stévenin). She would prefer to be working with an established commercial director like Brice (Bernard Giraudeau, Ridicule), who is involved with his leading lady--Julien's mother, Mado (Nicole Garcia). By the conclusion, Lili will have achieved her goal, but at what cost? Well, unlike The Seagull, La Petite Lili isn't a tragedy, so no one character will make out too badly. And as in François Ozon's Water Drops on Burning Rocks, itself based on a play (by Rainer Werner Fassbinder), Sagnier and Giraudeau make for a strangely compelling screen couple. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Review
Dazzling! The glowing images ease into one another like leaves turning in a summer breeze, while the performances are similarly effortless. --L.A. Weekly

Review
Ingeniously freewheeling, bracingly optimistic. --The New York Times

Customer Reviews

Wonderful example of great French cinema.
Wonderful film to watch. Brought back memories of what it was like when I started viewing French films more than 20 years ago. Of course, Ludivine Sagnier makes it even more enjoyable yet, as well as the beauitful cinematography.

Cool Movie, But Lacked DVD
Video:Non-Anamorphic 1.85:1, Non-Progressive, NTSC, Picture is not bad in this dvd spec. / Sound:French DD 2.0, Sound is not bad. / DVD Features:-Interview with Director Claude Miller & -Interview with Actress Ludivine Sagnier & -Director Biography & -Photo Gallery & -Trailer Gallery, Interviews is not image, only text. / Sub:No Sub menu , No Closed-captioned(Amazon`s details are wrong), But English Subtitle is in picture. It can`t Off! / Movie:Cool! / ETC:Ludivine Sagnier is Beautiful and Pretty! But her short nude is in front of the movie only. (If you want naked Ludivine, search for another title) / Rate:Movie is cool, but DVD is lacked. So, Movie Rate+DVD Rate=Rate 3