Ah, the Countess of Ségur! She only began writing for children at the age of 55, but surely with Sade and Masoch in mind. Blood, repentance, and kisses — in unbelievable and obscene numbers. Camille and Madeleine, “the Exemplary Girls,” are as good as they are obedient. Sophie, the one from “The Misfortunes of Sophie,” is deceitful, greedy, cruel, and above all, rebellious. Her games and adventures are true disasters that, under rigid and violent upbringing, always deserve reproach and punishment. So many stories, so many characters.
Paul, the cousin, pretends to be guilty to spare Sophie from punishment. Marguerite, the child saved from a serious accident, is adopted and provokes jealousy. Little Joan, the thief; Madame Fichini, the dreadful stepmother; the mothers and aunts who control and watch, all in the name of education. The children’s dialogues are so sophisticated that only child-adults could truly embody them. (Thank you, Paula Rego!).
Finally, in The Holidays, where everything is explained — and perhaps resolved — the boys and men arrive in the tumultuous kingdom of women. And throughout the film, a beautiful narrator, accompanied by an extraordinary pianist, fills the ellipses that cinema demands. Perhaps she is the Countess of Ségur herself, the Russian who fled — Sophie Rostropovich!
João Botelho
The director