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Bookmark this pageThe Fox and the Child (2008)
Director: Luc Jacquet
Movie review
From Time Out London
Luc Jacquet’s ‘The Fox and the Child’, his semi-autobiographical follow-up to ‘March of the Penguins’, is structured along the lines of a quaint bedtime tale. It sports little dialogue (a good thing given the awkward dubbing into English), and the story is narrated, in child-friendly fashion, by Kate Winslet. French actress Bertille Noël-Bruneau plays the nature-loving ten year old of the title who, over the course of nearly a year, wins the confidence of a local wild fox. As their ‘friendship’ grows, so does the girl’s instinct to domesticate the animal, which leads, unexpectedly, to a rather distressing coda.Shot in eastern France’s lush Jura region, near the Swiss border, Jacquet’s golden-hued cautionary tale is beautiful to look at. It’s also accurate in the way the time frame of friendship unfolds, and is spot on in illustrating our tendency to anthropomorphise cute animals. Unfortunately, for all its welcome accuracies, it becomes so bogged down in padding and repetition that only the most patient of youngsters will make it through fidget-free.
Author: Derek Adams
Time Out London Issue 1981 August 7 - 13, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- karena said...
- Posted on Jan 10 2009 01:30 My 9 year old daughter watched it on DVD with 5 friends at a sleepover party. They all got bored watching and did not stay to the end. The U certificate gives parents of young children a false security regarding some of nature's harsh scenes.
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- Meg said...
- Posted on Aug 12 2008 21:52 I took my 3 year old daughter to see this film, and even though it has a U certificate it is pretty frightening in places, with loud frightening music to go wih it! My daughter was in tears at one point but insisted in staying until the end and when it finished wanted to see it again! If I'd have known it was as graphic as it was, I would not have taken her to see it.
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Cast & crew
Director: Luc Jacquet
Cast: Bertille Noël-Bruneau, Kate Winslet full cast
Genre(s): Documentaries
Rated: U
Duration: 94 mins
UK Release: Aug 8 2008
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