The film stars as Elisabeth, a 16-year-old girl navigating the stormy passage into womanhood. The title is literal: Elisabeth is a "child-woman," possessing the body of an adult but the emotional fracturing of a traumatized adolescent. The narrative takes a deeply controversial turn when she meets an older man (played by Klaus Kinski’s frequent collaborator, Pierre Santini ).
: Their friendship is built on silence and small domestic wonders, like Marcel knitting her a sweater or caring for his pet bunny. la femme enfant 1980 movie
Released in France on , La Femme Enfant tells the story of Élisabeth (played by the ethereal Pénélope Palmer ), a thirteen-year-old girl teetering on the brink of womanhood. The setting is a dilapidated farmhouse in post-war rural France, where Élisabeth lives with her absent, grieving father and a series of itinerant workers. The film stars as Elisabeth, a 16-year-old girl
however, this film offers little but discomfort. It is slow, melancholic, and void of redemption. The beauty of the French countryside cannot distract from the rot at the film's core. : Their friendship is built on silence and
It is a difficult film, undoubtedly problematic by modern standards, but visually it feels like a painting slowly peeling away. A haunting artifact of its time.
* Raphaële Billetdoux. * Writer. Raphaële Billetdoux. * Klaus Kinski. Pénélope Palmer. Michel Robin. La femme enfant (1980) - IMDb
Set in a small village in northern France, the story follows (Pénélope Palmer), an 11-year-old girl who is a gifted organist but an outcast in her own community. Neglected by her cold, distant parents who run a local barber shop, Elisabeth finds solace in her daily visits to Marcel (Klaus Kinski), a mute, simple-minded gardener who works at a nearby castle.
