Little Amélie or the Character of Rain. 2025. France. Directed by Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han. Screenplay by Vallade, Han, Aude Py, Eddine Noël, based on the novel by Amélie Nothomb. With Loïse Charpentier, Victoria Grobois, Yumi Fujimori, Cathy Cerda. DCP courtesy GKIDS. In French; English subtitles. 77 min.
In their feature debut, French co-directors Liane-Cho Han and Maïlys Vallade animate a world as seen through the eyes of a child awakening to life. Based on celebrated author Amélie Nothomb’s semi-autobiographical novel Métaphysique des tubes, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain follows the experiences of a two-and-a-half-year-old Belgian child living with her family in postwar Japan as she matures to the age of three, her developing self-awareness visualized as a magical stream of consciousness. A bond with the family’s tender Japanese housekeeper sustains Amélie as she “discovers the wonders of nature as well as the emotional truths hidden beneath the surface” of a foreign land and troubling adult realities. Acknowledging the influence of Studio Ghibli masters Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Little Amélie’s lavish color palette is warm, with a charming paint-by-numbers texture appropriate to the impressionistic quality of early memory.
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