La Vie de château – My childhood at Versailles: a pure marvel (review)
An 8-year-old girl who became an orphan after the sudden death of both her parents. A gem of an animated film that finds the right tone to talk about grief.
Let’s start with a summary of the previous episodes of this adventure like no other. It all starts in 2020 with La Vie de château, a 20-minute animated short film around an 8-year-old girl who becomes an orphan – after the death of her parents in the Bataclan attacks – who is sent to live with her guardian, her uncle, a maintenance worker at the Palace of Versailles whom she does not like. Awarded more than 25 times in different festivals around the world, La Vie de château will, in the process, experience a second life with the development of its plot into a 6-episode mini-series for the Okoo channel with a selection in Annecy, a prize and a projection on the big screen which makes the duo Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat – Nathaniel H’Limi want to extend the adventure into a feature film from this material.
The result turns out to be a pure marvel. By its form: the beauty of its sober and refined animation. But also and above all by its story of infinite finesse which unfolds at the constant height of this child having to rebuild herself alongside this gruff giant with whom she finds herself forced to live. Two solitudes which will gradually become tamed over the course of a scenario with perfectly orchestrated twists and turns and never succumbing to the ease of pathos, embracing the mood swings of its young heroine, her infinite sadness as well as her playfulness. A major and incredibly endearing film about grief, capable of speaking to all audiences, without seeking the lowest common denominator.
By Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat and Nathaniel H’Limi. With the voices of Nina Perez-Malartre, Emi Lucas-Viguier, Frédéric Pierrot… Duration 1h21. Released October 15, 2025.
