Little Known Films: Le Herisson (The Hedgehog)
“All happy families are alike but each unhappy family is unique.” These words found in Anna Karenina also play an important part in forming the basis of a unique friendship between a widowed janitor and a recently arrived Japanese tenant in the new French film The Hedgehog. Freely adapted from the bestselling French novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, this moving story is about love, life and the unexpected, brought to the screen by first time thirty-one-year-old director Mona Achache.
Renée, fifty four, self described as “short, ugly and overweight,” is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building and corresponds to the archetype of what a concierge should be; reliable though totally uncultured. But beneath this facade lies the real Renée: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers, with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives.
Enter Mr. Kakuro Ochou, an enigmatic and elegant widowed neighbor who may or may not be a famous film director. Their unlikely friendship is video documented by Palomar, an eleven-year-old serious and highly articulate eccentric girl who also lives in the building. The pessimistic Paloma feels she can no longer live in “the fishbowl” that characterizes her life and is planning on doing something about it. That something will change the lives of everyone involved forever.
This is a restrained and delicate film about quiet observation and finding love late in life. It is something that viewers will find themselves going back to time and time again. It currently is available at the Palisades Library. Bring a tissue and enjoy. (100 minutes.)