Celine Sciamma discusses her love of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki
The films of Celine Sciamma are known for their expression of gender fluidity and sexual identity, and she is even considered a purveyor of the female gaze by many. Her movies have been critically praised, particularly 2014’s Girlhood, 2016’s My Life as a Courgette and certainly Portrait of a Lady on Fire, released in 2019.
Sciamma’s most recent effort, Petit Maman from 2021 and starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Stéphane Varupenne, Nina Meurisse and Margo Abascal, focuses on a young girl who is experiencing grief at the death of her maternal grandmother. However, the experience brings her closer to her mother.
The film had previously been described as Sciamma’s love letter to Studio Ghibli, and the way that Hayao Miyazaki’s films often focus on the inner workings of young women. Sciamma said of Miyazaki: “I love the fact that he is making radical, experimental cinema, which is women-centred, and everyone loves it. That’s so rare!”
She added: “And nobody is saying, ‘This is cinema for kids’.” Indeed, despite being children’s animation films, the Studio Ghibli films are loved universally regardless of age. Sciamma also notes the fact that she was inspired by Mamoru Hosoda’s 2012 animated film Wolf Children, which she claims is “one of the most beautiful films” she has ever seen.
That love for anime was also present in the back of Sciamma’s mind when she was writing Petit Maman, and she initially toyed with the idea of turning the film into an anime itself. “At first, I thought Petite Maman should be an anime because then you’re sure kids will see it,” she said. “But then it’s a film about the present, and the body, so I didn’t go for it.”
However, Sciamma kept referring to Miyazaki’s films “as a compass”. She added: “When I had trouble deciding how to look at something, like the house, for instance, I wondered whether I should shoot it differently each time but then thought that Miyazaki would shoot it the same, and nature would change around it.”
Petit Maman is indeed aimed at children, but that did not stop Sciamma from toying with the conventions of film. “When you’re writing for kids, you can write the most experimental, radical fiction because they don’t have the cultural background; they don’t have any expectation of what cinema should be,” she said. “It can be very emotional; it’s such a great thing for cinema.
Sciamma admitted to being inspired by a number of her contemporary directors and their courage in demonstrating their vision. She concluded, “When I think about other directors when I make films, it’s really to be as brave as they are. It’s not about looking for solutions; it’s being inspired by their courage.”
