| My Little Princess I'm Not a F**king Princess |
|
|---|---|
| Directed by | Eva Ionesco |
| Produced by | Les Productions Bagheera Canal + France 2 |
| Written by | Eva Ionesco Marc Cholodenko Philippe Le Guay |
| Starring | Isabelle Huppert Anamaria Vartolomei Denis Lavant Louis-Do de Lencquesaing |
| Music by | Olivier Mauvezin |
| Cinematography | Jeanne Lapoirie |
| Distributed by | Sophie Dulac Distribution |
| Release date(s) | 11 May 2010 (Cannes) |
| Running time | 135 |
| Country | France Romania |
| Language | French English Romanian |
My Little Princess (I'm Not a F**king Princess) is a French-Romanian drama film directed by Eva Ionesco and inspired by her relationship with her mother, the well-known artistic photographer Irina Ionesco whose pictures of her young daughter aroused discussions when they were published back in the 1970s. The movie illustrates a situation which a first glimpse seems to be a paradox: Whilst revealing more and more of her daughter to the public the mother seems to get increasingly estranged from her and vice versa.[1] Anamaria Vartolomei and Isabelle Huppert show this lack of affection so convincingly they have even been accused of interacting insufficiently as actors. [2] However, Isabelle Huppert told German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview the shooting of this film had been one of her more peculiar professional experiences because on the set she had had the feeling she was indeed the director's mother. [3]
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Violetta is raised by her grandmother. („Mamie“, the French equivalent for „Grandma“.)[4] Her mother Hanna tries to make a living on making photographs and concentrates on her dreams to become a famous artist. In order to succeed as an artist she doesn't worry about dating men of questionable reputation.[5] Only every now and then her mother visits her daughter but during these occasions it occurs to her that her daughter could be a potential model. She starts exploiting her daughter who by transforming into a kind of Lolita becomes increasingly alienated from other children of her age. [6] At school she is eventually frequently insulted and rejected.[7] Then Mamie dies and Hannah's photographs are about to unequivocally overstep the line of acceptability.[8] [9] Hanna even coerces Violetta mercilessly into cooperation by withholding her food in case she doesn't agree to pose for increasingly daring photographs. [10] Eventually Hanna's right of custody for her twelve years old daughter is at stake. [11]
German magazine Focus found Anamaria Vartolomei was convincing as a young girl whose life eventually turns into a nightmare because of her mother's artistic ambitions in the Paries of the 1970s. [12]
Painful personal experience is distilled into poignant drama in Eva Ionesco’s promising first feature My Little Princess. Autobiographical events from the 1970s are shaped into a fairytale-like narrative illuminating the abusive nature of Ionesco’s relationship with her mother Irina and eternal arguments over the limits of artistic freedom.— Allan Hunter – Screen Daily [13]