Àma Gloria

Q&A with Marie Amachoukeli on Mar. 2

Six-year-old Cléo (Louise Mauroy-Panzani) has been raised primarily by her nanny, Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego). When Gloria must return home to her native Cape Verde to take care of family, Cléo is devastated. To soften the blow, Gloria proposes to Cléo’s father Arnaud (Arnaud Rebotini) that the child come with her for the summer. This sensitive portrait of a young girl struggling to adjust to dramatic change hinges upon the star-making performance of Mauroy-Panzani. In the tradition of François Truffaut’s child protagonists, Cléo is equal parts innocent and casually selfish, delightful and devastating—and as she integrates herself in the lives of Gloria’s own children, the ripple effect of her presence brings underexplored emotions and familial tensions to the surface. Beautifully animated interludes add an unexpected touch of stylization to a film about the complicated, slowly dissolving bond between a young girl just beginning her life and a caretaker re-entering hers.