Àma Gloria
Marie Amachoukeli’s French drama about a six-year-old girl and her nanny from Cape Verde spotlights an exceptional performance from its child star.
Over the years it is impossible not to be amazed by the remarkable achievements of so many child players who have taken leading roles in films. Nevertheless, on seeing the French film Àma Gloria it is immediately clear that Louise Mauroy-Panzani is not just on that level but that her portrayal of the six-year-old Cléo is one for the ages. Never mind claiming her the child actress of the year, what she brings to her role marks her out as one of the screen’s all-time greats. From the moment that you see this bespectacled child, the actress has you in her hands: something about her personality grabs you at once and all the more so because the acting seems entirely natural and utterly lacking in any sense of contrivance or manipulation. It is a case of perfect casting and Louise Mauroy-Panzani is wonderful from the start. But, despite that, she astounds us all over again when, near the close of the film, she rises to the challenge of a big dramatic scene which one would expect to be outside the capability of such a young actor.
It probably goes without saying that Àma Gloria is worth seeing for her performance alone, but within a capable cast another actress deserves the highest praise. That is Ilça Moreno Zego who plays Cléo’s nanny, Gloria. They are together when we first encounter them. This is when Cléo is undergoing an eye test and the director chooses to shoot the two of them in very effective close-ups. The location is Paris where Cléo is being brought up by her father, Arnaud (Arnaud Rebotini). Her mother has died of cancer and Arnaud is a businessman so the role played by Gloria in young Cléo's life is significant and the bond that exists between them is captured in all its affection and intimacy. However, Gloria is only in Paris because she has come to France to earn money that will help her to support her family back in Cape Verde where her own children live. One, Fernanda (Abnara Gomes Varela) is old enough now to be married but her son, César (Fredy Gomes Tavares) is somewhat younger and she had been relying on her mother to take care of them. When Gloria hears that her mother has died, she naturally has to go home to attend the burial, but she recognises too that her family obligations – not least those to César – will mean that her role as nanny to Cléo will have to come to an end. In the circumstances she explains what has happened to Cléo but asks if the child can visit her for a holiday in Cape Verde so that the bond is not broken completely. Eventually Arnaud allows this to happen and the rest of Àma Gloria takes place during the time that Cléo spends with Gloria in Cape Verde.
This film is the first solo feature by Marie Amachoukeli who is also the principal writer. Her aim is less to tell a story than to portray the exceptional rapport that can exist on occasion between a young child and her nanny. Aided by her magnificent leading players, she achieves that with absolute conviction and without allowing in any trace of sentimentality. The sense of authenticity extends to the way in which life in Cape Verde is captured in almost documentary terms and certainly without any sense of a big drama developing. What we do note most convincingly in this situation is the cold reception given by César to Cléo due to his jealousy of her obtaining so much love from Gloria at a time when she had not been present to devote herself to him. In the event, however, whilst steering well clear of melodrama, Àma Gloria is leading to an incident that epitomises exactly the kind of dramatic event that can suddenly erupt in ordinary lives. But, until that point is reached, Ama Gloria is a chronicle of everyday life as it flows on from day today rather than anything more shaped and dramatised as a conventional narrative.
While Àma Gloria is highly impressive, it is for all its qualities a little less than perfect. Unusually the film not only begins with animated visuals but proceeds thereafter to offer similar interludes between the various wholly realistic scenes that tell the story. Sometimes the animated segments seem to suggest a world outside the personal story that is being told, but there is not one set style and the last example actually dramatises in a stylised way a specific incident that is happening. At times these episodes seem in context rather over-extended but one can certainly adjust to that. Arguably, the film is ultimately heading for scenes that render Àma Gloria a less comfortable work than viewers may have been expecting and whether or not this called for a little more preparation is a moot point. But, if a few questions can be asked, it is nevertheless impossible not to recommend this film with the greatest enthusiasm. Zego is great, the film is a fine endeavour and the achievement of young Louise Mauroy-Panzani is of such quality that one would be mad to miss it.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Louise Mauroy-Panzani, Ilça Moreno Zego, Abnara Gomes Varela, Fredy Gomes Tavares, Arnaud Rebotini, Domingos Borges Almeida, Marc Lafont, Bastien Ehouzan, Denis Ortega Acevedo.
Dir Marie Amachoukeli, Pro Bénédicte Couvreur, Screenplay Marie Amachoukeli with Pauline Guéna, Ph Inès Tabarin, Pro Des Zoé Carré and Zoe Squire, Ed Suzana Pedro, Music Fanny Martin, Costumes Agathe Meinnemare, Animation Marie Amachoukeli and Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet.
Lilies Films/Canal+/Ciné+/Cofinova 18/Cinécap 6/Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC)-British Film Institute.
84 mins. France. 2023. UK Rel: 14 June 2024. Cert. 12A.
