Little Nicholas (2009)

Nicholas has every reason to keep things in life unchanged; however, when he accidentally overhears mum and dad talking about a new baby brother, his world will turn upside down. Will they abandon him to make room for the little stranger?

Director:

Laurent Tirard

Writers:

Laurent Tirard (screenplay), Grégoire Vigneron (screenplay)

Stars:

Maxime Godart, Vincent Claude, Charles Vaillant

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maxime Godart	...	Nicolas
Vincent Claude	...	Alceste
Charles Vaillant	...	Geoffroy
Victor Carles	...	Clotaire
Benjamin Averty	...	Eudes
Germain Petit Damico	...	Rufus
Damien Ferdel	...	Agnan
Virgile Tirard	...	Joachim
Elisa Heusch	...	Marie-Edwige
Valérie Lemercier	...	La mère de Nicolas
Kad Merad	...	Le père de Nicolas
Sandrine Kiberlain	...	La maîtresse
François-Xavier Demaison	...	Le bouillon
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Le directeur
Daniel Prévost	...	M. Moucheboume

Storyline

Nicolas has a happy existence, parents who love him, a great group of friends with whom he has great fun, and all he wants is that nothing changes. However, one day, he overhears a conversation that leads him to believe that his life might change forever, his mother is pregnant! He panics and envisions the worst.

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Plot Keywords:

france | school | dinner | baby | title same as book | 

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Taglines:

Going Back To School Is Great!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The book Geoffroy mentions about a boy being abandoned in the jungle and raised by wolves, is most likely "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling.

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Goofs

Plastic garbage bags only became widespread in the mid '70s. In the late '50s and early '60s, garbage was directly put in large metal bins and taken to the curb on collection days.

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Crazy Credits

The first credits at the end of the film are for the child actors, with the name and characters of the eight boys and one girl shown over individual clips of the performer.

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Connections

Followed by Nicholas on Holiday (2014)

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Soundtracks

La Marseillaise
(uncredited)
Written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Played by the school band before the Minister's visit

User Reviews

I enjoyed myself that evening. Others (French) might not.

French people might understandably be disappointed by a theatrical adaptation of the beloved Petit Nicolas, a character so familiar from their childhoods, but as one who was never mesmerized by the original form of these character, I did not go into this with expectations.

But it's a fun little ride. The costumes, the décor and the acting are all impeccable--Valérie Lemercier is especially delightful. So, too, is the writing: the story is predictable, tidy, socially non-offensive and slightly fantastical--but self-consciously so. It is a tribute to and a mild, good-natured parody of 1950's aesthetic and moral values in filmmaking, and it works very well. Most contemporary period films delight in opening up the curtains on the skeletons of what they see as "repressed" past societies and in poisoning our sentimental collective memories with gritty filth (see « 8 femmes » for an excellent French example; "Titanic" for a classic Anglo-American textbook example).

« Le petit Nicolas » is just here to remind us of what we were once supposed to try for--and it makes us wonder if it wasn't in some ways better than what we have ended up with... without, of course, being too moralizing. It makes for a good little weekday evening pick-me-up.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Wild Bunch [France]

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

30 September 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Little Nicholas

Filming Locations:

Avenue Junot, Paris 18, Paris, France

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$62,794,894

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fidélité Productions, Wild Bunch, M6 Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1