TIFF 2025 Review: Little Amélie or the Character of Rain – “provocative, rambunctious, and personal”

A Belgian girl living in Japan with her family discovers a world of wonder and grief which she will never forget.

Viewing herself as a deity, Amélie imagines what she sees being shaped and manipulated by her vivid imagination and in the process isolates herself from her family. At the age of two and a half, a life-changing moment occurs when she tastes white chocolate, which causes her to interact with the world for the first time.  Making up for lost time, Amélie goes on a personal rampage that causes perpetual turmoil for her Belgian parents and siblings who are living in Japan.  Things take a turn when a Japanese housekeeper is hired who develops a closeness with the child, which is scorned upon the landlord who resents the Western presence in her homeland post-World War II.

Something that never leaves the aesthetic is the sheer imagination that goes along with being a child and how everything seems to be larger than life and an epic adventure.  A clever moment comes when the topic of death is approached and the housekeeper talks to Amélie about losing her family during World War II.  There is no flashbacks but a heightened reality to what is going on in the kitchen as the meal gets prepared that is equally dramatic and effective in underscoring the personal trauma.  There is Moses parting the Red Sea moment where everything gets suspended in time until Amélie attempts to touch a sea creature which causes reality to come crashing back down.  The shot transitions are fluid, which causes the senses to be continually overloaded with saturated colours and images.

The animation style resembles acrylic paint that takes advantage of tonal changes through lighting and shading to make the simplistic character designs and heightened environments even more emotive.  The Japanese belief that children under the age of three are akin to gods might for some seem a confusing motif, but the heart of the story is about connecting with those around us and treasuring those relationships and the memories that result from them.  With co-directors Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han being involved with The Little Prince, I Lost My Body and Ethel & Ernest, the innovative animation is not surprising and builds upon the storytelling in a way that is provocative, rambunctious, and personal all at once.

The 50th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 4-14, 2025, and for more information visit tiff.net.    

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.