22/05/2003 - Based on Chekhov’s “Seagull”, Claude Miller’s academic film disappoints, and loses the plot in references to great directors of the past

Claude Miller is one of the most familiar faces on the Croisette, having won the Jury Award in 1998. However his latest, rather academic feature, Petite Lili underwhelmed the press at today’s screening in competition.
Based on Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull”, the film compares the love and artistry of two generations vacationing in Breton. The contrast between youth and maturity is portrayed by Miller’s female leads, Ludivine Sagnier and Nicole Garcia, and two film directors (Robinson Stevenin and Bernard Giraudeau), supervised by patriarch, Jean-Pierre Marielle. “I wanted to portray the relationship between reality and what we think is reality and suggested that artists can resolve tension and anxiety through work.”
Extremely classic and lacking in surprises, La Petite Lili is a tribute to François Truffaut’s Night for Day even though Miller defended his film by quoting directors like Vincente Minnelli and Jean-Luc Godard. This film also emphasised the grace with which the older acting pair dealt with this classic, compared to the obvious discomfort and unfamiliarity of the younger pair, Stevenin and Sagnier.
Produced by Les Films de la Boissière with a Euros5.13m budget, La Petite Lili is the result of a co-production with Canada contributing some 10 per cent and Euros916,000 from France 3 Cinéma. The film will be release in France on 27 August.

(Translated from French)