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Jacques Doillon's Ponette: The Perennial Mourning Child

2002; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/lm.2002.0013

1080-6571

Michele Respaut,

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

Ponette, Jacques Doillon's 1996 film, while little noticed in the United States, is much admired in Europe and repays attention as a compelling treatment of a child's grief at the death of a parent or parents. 1 The impact of the film is heightened for us through awareness of its clearly intended echoes of and contrasts with a classic French film, René Clément's 1952 Jeux Interdits, or Forbidden Games. 2 While literary analogies are not lacking, 3 Ponette achieves its greatest richness of meaning for us when juxtaposed both with the earlier film and with the psychological literature on bereavement in children. In referring to this literature, I will emphasize the work of J. William Worden because of his comprehensive synthesis of the field and the special pertinence of his analyses. 4