{{Infobox film | name = My Little Princess | image = MyLittlePrincess2010Poster.jpg | caption = French poster | director = Eva Ionesco | producer = François-Xavier Frantz | writer = Eva Ionesco<br>Marc Cholodenko<br>Philippe Le Guay | starring = Isabelle Huppert | music = Bertrand Burgalat | cinematography = Jeanne Lapoirie | editing = Laurence Briaud | studio = Les Productions Bagheera <br> Canal + <br> France 2 | distributor = Sophie Dulac Distribution | released = {{Film date|2011|5|17|Cannes|2011|6|29|df=y}} | runtime = 105 minutes | country = France<br>Romania | language = French<br>English<br>Romanian | budget = $3.4 million <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=12115 | title=My Little Princess (2011) - JP Box-Office }}</ref> | gross = $136.555 <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1896788/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 | title=My Little Princess }}</ref> }} '''''My Little Princess''''' is a 2011 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 caused controversy when they were published in the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2011/09/30/VIFF-2011-Review-of-Eva-Ionescos-MY-LITTLE-PRINCESS|title= selfishness is consistent throughout the film but particularly in the early days of their working relationship |accessdate=2011-10-17}}</ref>
==Plot== 12-year-old Violetta is raised by her loving grandmother ("Mamie", the French equivalent of "Grandma") in 1970's Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.ungrandmoment.be/my-little-princess/|title= Violetta vit avec sa grand-mère et souffre de l'absence de sa mère|accessdate=2011-10-17}}</ref> Her volatile mother, Hanna has abandoned the family to pursue a career in photography and visits infrequently. During one of these visits, she invites Violetta to her apartment and asks her to model for her photographs, finding her to be a natural talent at modeling. She begins to dress Violetta in gaudy dresses and introduces her to Hanna's lover, painter Ernst, who finances her career.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://filmjournal.net/noelm/2011/07/12/my-little-princess/|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110713160327/http://filmjournal.net/noelm/2011/07/12/my-little-princess/|url-status= dead|archive-date= 2011-07-13|title= mother Hanna (Isabelle Huppert) is away living a bohemian lifestyle, mixing with other artists of dubious character|accessdate= 2011-10-17}}</ref> She starts exploiting her daughter who by transforming into a kind of Lolita becomes increasingly alienated from other children of her age.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/latest-reviews/my-little-princess/5027680.article|title= Violetta turns into a Lolita figure, standing forlornly in the school playground in tight hot pants|accessdate=2011-10-17}}</ref> At school she is eventually frequently insulted and rejected.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.fichesducinema.com/spip/spip.php?article2611|title= À l'école, ses camrades l'insultent et la rejettent.|accessdate= 2011-10-17|url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120425074225/http://www.fichesducinema.com/spip/spip.php?article2611|archivedate= 2012-04-25}}</ref> Then Mamie dies and Hanna's photographs are about to unequivocally overstep the line of acceptability.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117945253/|title= Pic's most troubling scene involves a special commission, in which Hanah instructs her daughter to strip|accessdate=2011-10-17 | work=Variety|first=Peter|last=Debruge|date=2011-05-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.avoir-alire.com/article.php3?id_article=16464|title= La jeune fille avait même simulé à 11 ans des actes sexuels dans un film |accessdate=2011-10-17}}</ref> Hanna even coerces Violetta mercilessly into cooperation by withholding her food in case she doesn't agree to pose for increasingly daring photographs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.daserste.de/ttt/beitrag_dyn~uid,pknvhtjh2ze6idaj~cm.asp#moreinfo3|title= Ihre Mutter, Irina, macht unerbittlich klar: ohne Fotos – kein Essen.|accessdate=2011-10-24}}</ref> Eventually Hanna's right of custody for her twelve-year-old daughter is at stake.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/my-little-princess-cannes-2011-189748|title= Hannah is accused of being an unfit mother|accessdate=2011-10-17 | work=The Hollywood Reporter|first=David|last=Rooney|date=2011-05-18}}</ref>
== Cast == * Isabelle Huppert as Hanna Giurgiu * Anamaria Vartolomei as Violetta Giurgiu * Denis Lavant as Ernst * Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as Antoine Dupuis * Georgetta Leahu as Mamie * Jethro Cave as Updike * Pascal Bongard as Jean * Anne Benoît as Madame Chenus * Johanna Degris-Agogue as Apolline * Déborah Révy as Nadia * Lou Lesage as Rose * Nicolas Maury as Louis * Pauline Jacquart as Fifi
==Reception== 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 1970s Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.focus.de/kultur/kino_tv/film-im-not-a-fking-princess-der-alptraum-einer-lolita_aid_677586.html |title= Die Nachwuchsschauspielerin Anamaria Vartolomei überzeugt als junges Mädchen, für die der Traum ihrer Mutter von einer Künstlerkarriere im Paris der 70er Jahre zum Alptraum wird.|accessdate=2011-10-24}}</ref> <br>{{blockquote|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 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/latest-reviews/my-little-princess/5027680.article|title = My Little Princess}}</ref>}}
Critics also commented that Anamaria Vartolomei and Isabelle Huppert have portrayed the lack of affection so convincingly that they have even been accused of interacting insufficiently as actors.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.abusdecine.com/fiche-film.php?numero=4004|title= Malheureusement, elles jouent toutes seules, chacune de leur côté|accessdate= 2011-10-17|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120404194757/http://www.abusdecine.com/fiche-film.php?numero=4004|archive-date= 2012-04-04|url-status= dead}}</ref> Regarding this, Huppert told German newspaper ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' in an interview that shooting of the 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kino/im-gespraech-isabelle-huppert-lieben-sie-die-abwechslung-madame-huppert-11500585.html |title= Ich habe diese Mutter gespielt, eine starke, herrische, aber auch verwundbare Frau, war am Set also quasi die Mutter der Regisseurin – eine merkwürdige Erfahrung.|newspaper= Faz.net|accessdate=2011-10-23|last1= Suchsland|first1= Rüdiger}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|1896788}}
Category:2011 French-language films Category:2010s Romanian-language films Category:French biographical films Category:2011 directorial debut films Category:2011 films Category:Films set in the 20th century Category:French drama films Category:Films directed by Eva Ionesco Category:Romanian drama films Category:Romanian biographical films Category:2011 drama films Category:2011 multilingual films Category:French multilingual films Category:Romanian multilingual films Category:2011 French films