La Petite Lili (2003)

68% of critics liked it
(31 reviews)
41% of users liked it
(868 ratings)

Anton Chekhov's The Seagull receives an updated adaptation in this drama from veteran French filmmaker Claude Miller. Mado (Nicole Garcia) is a successful actress who is spending the summer at her country estate with her boyfriend, Brice (Bernard Giraudeau), a noted filmmaker who directed her latest… More Anton Chekhov's The Seagull receives an updated adaptation in this drama from veteran French filmmaker Claude Miller. Mado (Nicole Garcia) is a successful actress who is spending the summer at her country estate with her boyfriend, Brice (Bernard Giraudeau), a noted filmmaker who directed her latest picture. Also staying with Mado is her son, Julien (Robinson Stévenin), a budding experimental filmmaker with a combustible personality who is infatuated with Lili (Ludivine Sagnier), a beautiful young woman whose family lives nearby. Lili is attentive but cool around Julien, who doesn't pay much heed to the attentions of Jeanne-Marie (Julie Depardieu), the daughter of Mado's caretaker (Marc Betton) who has long held a torch for him. When Julien screens his latest film for Mado and her guests, it leads to a bitter argument between the two as her criticism of her son's work devolves into a series of personal attacks on one another. As Julien threatens to sever ties with his mother, Lili courts the attentions of Brice, while Jeanne-Marie defends Julien's work with little reaction from him. La Petite Lili received its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 44 min.
Directed By: Claude Miller
Written By: Claude Miller, Julien Boivent
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Aug 23, 2005
Studio: Pyramide Films

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Miller, a French director of dry humor and great skill, has taken the Chekhov outline and updated it to present-day France, substituting the cinema for literature.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Like the play, it's acutely perceptive, universally empathetic and humane.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Talky, pointless exercise.
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
Miller takes Chekhov's themes and checks them off, but he never gets under his egocentric characters' thin skins.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Claude Miller's ingeniously freewheeling adaptation of "The Seagull" drags Chekhov's 1895 play into the age of cellphones, digital video and hip-hop.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Because the talk never gets beyond statement making, and because the characters emit none of Chekhov's radiantly lived-in soulfulness, there's plenty of time to appreciate the sun-kissed landscape.
Brent Simon, Now Playing Magazine
The movie sings with an affectless simplicity and elegance much missing in American cinema.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
those hoping for a dramatic finish are going to come up short
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
It's a simple story, but it's sort of satisfying to see the way they come full circle, using 'the movie within the movie' concept to wrap everything up.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
A rather slight work, but especially for those acquainted with 'The Seagull' it should prove an intriguing exercise in translation.
Tony Medley, tonymedley.com
The understated, unsettling sexuality of Ludivine Sagnier vamps James Deanish-Robinson Stévenin in Claude Miller's attractive adaptation of Checkov's The Seagull.
Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
Miller crafts a warmly, but not entirely optimistic fable about the salutary power of lazy afternoons, meals taken at dusk beneath outdoor tents and, ultimately, of moviemaking itself.
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
Sagnier plays her sensuality for all it's worth... which is undisguised and considerable, and provides the glue for a tale that could easily come apart.
Marta Barber, Miami Herald
A film that adapts the basic Russian classic and then breaks away in more ways than just the setting.
Wendy Weinstein, Film Journal International
The film explores the conflict between idealistic youth and pragmatic maturity, respecting each in turn, but succeeds best in underscoring the power of youthful sexuality.
Jesse Paddock, culturevulture.net
Centers on a small family of wealthy, prominent celebrities, whose indulgent infighting feels forced and predictable
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Miller has smoothly transformed Chekov's masterpiece into a critique of his own art -- cinema -- while respectfully retaining the playwright's core themes.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Mark A

Quite an entertaining tale of a young girl taking advantage of what is before her to launch a career in film. There are scars, and hearts are broken, but life goes on. One time lovers Lili (Ludivine Sagnier) and Julien (Robinson Stevenin) collaborate on a short film that gets her… More
Quite an entertaining tale of a young girl taking advantage of what is before her to launch a career in film. There are scars, and hearts are broken, but life goes on. One time lovers Lili (Ludivine Sagnier) and Julien (Robinson Stevenin) collaborate on a short film that gets her noticed by Julien's mother's lover, a french movie director, Brice (Bernard Girardeau). Lili leaves with the older man and thereby becomes a star. When she finds out that Julien is making a film about the events of that summer, she angles for the part to play herself. Will the former lovers be able to set aside past hurts, or will the memory of old wounds open new rifts? On this the film hinges. Lots of lovely scenery, including a fully nude Sagnier early on, but a clear winner with or without it. Touching story that felt honest in the company of people to whom honesty is not seen as a virtue.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"La Petite Lili" takes place in the French countryside where Julien(Robinson Stevenin) is a budding filmmaker who has just completed a short film starring his girlfriend, Lili(Ludivine Sagnier). He disdains the more commercial instincts of his… More
[font=Century Gothic]"La Petite Lili" takes place in the French countryside where Julien(Robinson Stevenin) is a budding filmmaker who has just completed a short film starring his girlfriend, Lili(Ludivine Sagnier). He disdains the more commercial instincts of his stepfather, Brice(Bernard Girardeau), himself a successful director. At the screening, everything goes well until Julien is distracted by the fidgeting of his mother, Mado(Nicole Garcia), and stalks off...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"La Petite Lili" is a fairly moribund film about the loves and conflicts of family and friends during a weekend at the countryside until the last part of the movie where those events are put in sharp focus and the movie becomes much more interesting. [/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Note: With the exception of Luc Besson, I have never thought of French cinema as being particularly commercial, but then I guess it is a matter of perspective.[/font]