The Hedgehog directed by Mona AcacheRialto CinemasHedgehog tells the interwoven tales of two people who have given up on life but who become transformed by their encounter with a third person.Eleven-year-old Paloma lives with her bourgeoisie parents in th
The Hedgehog directed by Mona Acache
Rialto Cinemas
Hedgehog tells the interwoven tales of two people who have given up on life but who become transformed by their encounter with a third person.
Eleven-year-old Paloma lives with her bourgeoisie parents in their flash Paris apartment. She has already decided that the pampered and pointless lives of her parents has nothing to offer her and she will commit suicide before she turns twelve.
Renee, the concierge of the apartment block is a 50-ish widow who also feels that life has not much to offer and has passed her by.
Both, like hedgehogs, have curled up protectively, watching the world through their self imposed blinkers and shielding themselves with their prickly exteriors.
Enter Mr Ozu, an enigmatic Japanese tenant who touches both of the women; Renee romantically and Paloma intellectually so that their perceptions of themselves and their lives changes.
Garance Le Guillemic as Paloma gives a perceptive portrayal of a young woman too wise and naive for her own good.
She spends much of her time filming her family and her environment, documenting what she sees as a superficial life but never really attempting to engage with it.
Josiane Balasko as Renee gives an impressive performance as a woman burdened and isolated by her job seeking release and reprieve in her study and ideas.
Togo Igawa gives the role of Mr Ozu a calm density so that he seems more like an apparition or messiah than a real person.
Each of the characters has there own environments; Phoebe the flash living environment, Renee a cramped few rooms while Mr Ozu is complemented by the austere Euro-Japanese apartment which blends traditional and contemporary culture together
The book on which the film is based, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Murial Barbery, apparently has lots of allusions to film, literary works, music and paintings. These have been watered down for the film and would have made it a more compelling tale.
There are still a few of the allusions, though. Mr Ozu gets to understand something of Renee’s life when she quotes from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina about families and she inquires whether he is related to the film director Yasujiro Ozu.
Then they both end up watching one of director Ozu’s films in Mr Ozu’s apartment.
The film is fairly predictable apart from the ending and its class analysis is obvious but it’s a charming tale about understanding, compassion and the nature of love.
