The Little Prince Said (1992) User Reviews

Very well done, touching but not melodramatic

[frankde-jong · 8/10 · 17 July 2020]

Films about children dying are very tricky ones. All too often they ended up being much too sentimental and melodramatic. Two films that avoided this pitfall are "Tonio" (2016, Paula van der Oest) and "Le petit prince a dit" (1992, Christine Pascal).

Tonio dies in a traffic accident at the beginning of the film. Little Violette in "Le petit prince a dit" is about to die due to a brain tumor at the end of the film. More important is the different effects that the (impending) death of their child has on the parents. In "Le petit prince a dit" the marriage of the parents of Violette is effectively over at the beginning of the film but their sorrow (and the manipulations of Violette herself) brings them together again. In "Tonio" on the other side the proces of mourning forms a danger for their marriage.

When the father of Violette learns that his daughter is incurably ill, he lterally graps her from the treatment table. This touches the question of quantity of life (lifespan) versus quality of life, but transforms the movie also in a roadmovie. This roadmovie reaches an almost metaphysical peak on the mountains between Switzerland and Italy.

Especially in the second half of the film the music is very beautiful. IMDB did not mention a soundtrack, so it took some effort to find out that te music was written by Bruno Coulais.

The end, when the sleeping Violette becomes ever more overexposed and so slowly fades away, is touching.

a different angle on the usual "terminal" disease movie

[diwa · 10/10 · 27 July 2004]

This is the most touching movie I have seen in a long time. It takes a different look on the theme of "terminal" disease. It mainly shows how the parents (mostly the father) cope with the fact that their daughter doesn't have that much time on this earth, subsequently they don't have much time with her. The movie however doesn't concentrate on the girl herself. In fact she is ignorant of what is driving her parents to change their attitude towards her and each other. She's happy of course as it brings her parents back together (emotionally at least), but her character remains in the background as we see her father trying not to think of what's to come and make her as happy as he can even for a little while and her mother coming out of her initial denial.

as true as life itself

[blaakmeer-1 · 10/10 · 26 January 2006]

Ten year old Violet, overweight according to her divorced parents, is not feeling well. When a malignant brain-tumor is discovered her father abducts her from the hospital in order to make a last trip together. Over the mountains to Milan, where her mother is singing in an opera, and to the sea. Eventually they wind up in the family cottage in France, joined by mother and father's girlfriend. On the road father lost his watch, but Violet found a dog, which sometimes responds to the name 'chien'. At the end Violet is tired and goes to sleep. For ever it seems.

A movie about life, love and death. Big words, but nothing in this little gem is too big or sentimental. The girl that is going to die needs no words on life and death. Alone, high up in the mountains between Switzerland and Italy, she understands her fate. Something to do with a butterfly and flying. That we, as audience, cry a little for her doesn't matter. Violet doesn't cry, she saw a butterfly and rescued a dog that reeked of oil. And when father's girlfriend prepares a wholesome salad which certainly won't make Violet fatter then she is, her mother makes her fried bananas.

"Le petit prince a dit" is one of those rare films that seem to be true. A film about real people experiencing real joy and real sorrow. Violet will die, but her story is also a happy one, in which father hits the breaks when the song they sing together says 'stop'. A film as good and bitter as life itself.

Great one

[ZbiSal · 10/10 · 3 October 2011]

Sad but good movie.

10-year old Violette has glioma(type of brain tumor). After discovering this her father simply kidnaps her from a table where a tomography is performed on her. She has no more than 2 years of life left - with chemotherapy, falling hair etc. Father and his divorced ex-wife(mother of Violette) silently agree that, instead of little longer but unpleasant life, give her shorter but happier - with parents reunited doing everything to make her happy.Father and daughter travel together - from Switzerland to Italy and eventually to France when they are reunited with Violette's mother. Violette knows what will happen. She accepts it and even consoles his father. In the end of the movie she falls asleep. We don't know whether is normal sleep or ...

Richard Berry and Anémone as parents are great but Marie Kleiber as Violette steals the show. Great music by Bruno Coulais. Film avoids cheap sentimentality.

Great movie.

He said that Christine Pascal would make a beautiful movie.

[dbdumonteil · 9/10 · 20 January 2011]

SPOILERS A divorced man (Richard Berry) learns that her daughter's got an incurable illness. They're leaving on the French and Italian roads and they tend to become closer themselves as if they wanted to escape from the terrible truth. Finally they arrive on their second home in the southern France where Berry's wife (Anémone) is there and she knew the truth about Violette before coming here.... The movie is very similar to "l'arbre de Noel", a film made by Terence Hill in 1969 but this one was very poor and flat whereas Vincent's film is beautiful and successful (it won the Louis Delluc's price in 1993 and it deserved it). In spite of the dramatical situation and the presence of death in the background, her film remains very gleeful: during their travel, the two main characters are alive , thrilled and the landscapes are magnificent and sunny, besides several pictures are beautiful. Pascal succeeds in alternating the comical and the dramatical scenes, these last ones are harrowing and touching like the sequence in the theater of Milan. Moreover, she avoids tears and it was what "l'arbre De Noel" wanted to produce. There is only one weird scene: the last sequence. Of course, it's an open end: what will Richard Berry do after he saw Violette falling asleep? I think that it was useful because if the director had filmed Violette's death, the film would have been a flop. To sum up: a light and beautiful film.

Excellent artistry can't overcome tragic subject matter.

[Dick-44 · 15 June 1999]

This movie presents a week in the lives of a mother, father and little girl who is diagnosed as having inoperable glioma. The script is intelligent and avoids sentimentality. The acting is very good. The direction is excellent. The movie is just about perfect in every way.

But who wants to see a movie on this subject? I recommend the movie to anyone who enjoys having the 24-hour flu.