Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite (2001)

Director:

Pascale Bailly

Writers:

Alain Tasma (screenplay) and
Pascale Bailly (adaptation)

Release Date:

26 September 2001 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Michèle, 20 years old, feels terrible after having broken up with her boy-friend. She meets Francois...

Plot Keywords:

Veterinarian | Judaism | Wedding | Love | Male Female Relationship

Cast

Audrey Tautou	...	Michèle
Edouard Baer	...	François
Julie Depardieu	...	Valérie
Catherine Jacob	...	Evelyne
Philippe Laudenbach	...	Jean
Cathy Verney	...	Florence
Anna Koch	...	Régine
Max Tzwangue	...	Simon
Mathieu Demy	...	Bertrand
Atmen Kelif	...	Ali
Nelly Camara	...	Laetitia
Jean Reichman	...	Joseph
Bruno Slagmulder	...	Fred
Lucien Melki	...	Laurent
Nathalie Levy-Lang	...	Jessica

Also Known As:

God Is Great and I'm Not (USA) (DVD title)
God Is Great, I'm Not (USA) (festival title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Spain:T | South Korea:15 | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:13 | France:U | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Canal+

Quotes:

François: If I come to a Buddhist meeting with you do I have to shave my head and take off my shoes?
Michèle: You don't have to take off your shoes.
François: What, then?

Movie Connections:

References Shoah (1985)

Starts and Stops: A Movie Trying to Find A Story

'Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite' is a little film by Pascale Bailly that spends a lot of time trying to tell a story in bits and pieces with numerous characters, interesting in and of themselves but confusing to the viewer, attempting to keep up with the breakneck speed of this French comedy. The saving grace is the presence of Audrey Tautou and a few other actors whose screen magnetism holds our interest.

Fresh from a breakup with a boyfriend Bertand (Mathieu Demy) top model Michèle (Tautou) is a wreck of a person flirting with all manner of religious outlets (Hindu, Buddhism, Catholicism, etc) trying to find something to make her crazy life make sense. She encounters a veterinarian François (Edouard Baer) who is a secular Jew (non-practicing, closeted, etc) and not only does she fall immediately into bed with him (and a next morning attempted suicide!) she begins to stalk him trying to embrace Judaism - a fact that at first drives François away and then a little mad himself. The manner in which Michèle and François study Judaism and all its graces and restrictions is (I think) the basis for the rest of the story: the filming technique of flashbacks and fragmentary moments and cutesy scribblings on pages are paced to confuse and make this simple story a maze to follow! Along the way we meet some interesting types including Valérie (Julie Depardieu) who opens her door to her first psychology patient (Thierry Neuvic) and promptly falls in love with him; Ali (Atmen Kelif) who is Michèle's nutty fashion photographer and a number of others. There are funny moments, touching moments, absurd moments, but they are loosely strung together. In the end this is a fun film in which it is a bit trying to connect all the dots! In French, English, and Hebrew with subtitles. Grady Harp