Little Nicholas

Synopsis

In Paris, in the 1960s, a young boy named Nicolas gets into all sorts of mischief with his friends, some unintentional, some intended. Matters get worse when Nicolas, a single child, thinks his mother is pregnant and a baby brother is forthcoming. And another friend of his has a baby brother and thinks it horrible but, thanks to his friend's ideas, he believes this means his parents don't love him anymore and will abandon him. He and his pals embark on several schemes to raise 500 francs to have the baby kidnapped and left in a jungle. But before any drastic consequences are successful, Nicolas learns how nice it is to be a big brother. Then he discovers his mother isn't pregnant, and is upset about that. His parents eventually have a baby, which Nicolas looks forward to, except he gets a sister instead, and tells his parents he should have asked for a puppy.

Cast

Development

Producers Olivier Delbosc and Marc Missonnier from Fidelity Films offered Laurent Tirard the project, who immediately accepted it as he has grown up with the characters from the story. Talking about that he said that "It is, however, struck me as obvious. I grew up with Le Petit Nicolas. I read (it) when I was a teenager. This work represents me and speaks to me. I immediately knew what the film would look like." He further added that the character of the Nicolas was very personal to René Goscinny, "I knew that the key would be to adapt the both in his work and in his life, so I tried to understand the character of René Goscinny . This was someone who was looking for his place in society, and he had to win through laughter. At the time he was an accountant, his pleasure was to think it was the grain of sand that would make all the rails. He had a taste for the mess and realized that laughter could be both a defense a society where you do not feel out of place and a way to insert. These are things that I read between the lines of his biographies and spoke to me. The little boy looking for his place in society has become the axis on which to build the story."

Casting

On 8 April 2008 it was announced that Valérie Lemercier and Kad Merad have joined the cast of the film as Nicloas's mother and father. Maxime Godart was cast as the main protagonist Nicolas. Tirard said about his casting that "Maxime Godart has a very clear vision of the place he wants to be in the company of what he wants to do with his life. With his outgoing personality, I thought he would not be afraid in front of the camera. But it happened the other way around. The first day, when huge crane arm with a camera approached him for a first round crank, he was petrified! Chez Maxime, even more than in other children, the desire and the pleasure of playing were great. He never gave any sign of fatigue or expressed the need to stop." Triard also cast his own son Virgil Triard as Joachim, one of Nicolas's friend and classmate.

Filming

Filming began on 22 May 2008 in Paris and ended on 11 October 2008. Most of the filming took place at Studio Monev at Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. Scenes were also shot at Laeken near the old school of boatmen on a vacant lot and at the corner of the street Claessens and Rue Dieudonné Lefèvre.

Music and soundtrack

The score for Le Petit Nicolas was composed by Klaus Badelt and performed by Geert Chatrou, Dirk Brossé and Loïc Pontieux. It was released on September 28, 2009 by EmArcy Records. Renan Luce's second single On n’est pas à une bêtise près (was not a mistake near) from his 2009 album Clan miros appears at the end credit of the film but it is not part of the album. It was later released by Luce in October 2009. The album received positive response on its release. Movienthusiast gave the album a positive review and awarded it three out of five stars by saying that "Music of this film is able to fill a variety of themes, scenes usually pose a ticklish feeling in the audience themselves. But for serious little scene, Badelt uses intelligent sound combining bass drums, strings of a violin with the sound of the harmonica, triangle even whistle. Overall, every scene is filled by a variety of sounds from various instruments giving them extra charm."

Theatrical release

The film was theatrically released in France on 30 September 2009 by Wild Bunch Distribution, Central Film and EOne Films.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on 3 February 2010 by Wild Side Video. Bonus features include a Booklet with a history of Petit Nicolas and commentary featuring the child artists of the film.

Box office

In its first week of release Le Petit Nicolas sold over a million tickets in France. The film grossed $48,398,428 in France, and $11,088,066 in international territories for a total of $59,486,494.

Critical reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. David Parkinson of Empire Online gave the film three out of five stars and said that "Charmingly capturing the misconceptions of childhood and ebulliently played by a knowing cast, it should delight all ages." Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian gave four stars out of five by saying that "It presents a gently humorous, beautifully shot idyllic version of childhood, all blue skies, good manners and not a hair out of place. It's a nice place to visit for the duration." Omer Ali of Little White Lies praising the film, said that "A diverting alternative to more high-octane kiddie fare." Amber Wilkinson of Eye for Film praised the actors by saying that "In a refreshing change from Hollywood films aimed at this market there is a blissful lack of toilet humour and there's plenty of fun to be had for an older audience in watching Nicholas' hapless father (Kad Merad) attempt to win a promotion from his boss by bringing him home to dinner. The acting from the adults has a slight pantomime edge to it, but this complements the source material and gives a real sense of the way in which children tend to view grown ups as larger than life. The children, meanwhile, form a sweet and believable ensemble, with Maxime Godart in the central role and Victor Carles as class clot Clotaire, in particular, likely to crop up in other films." Similarly Bernard Besserglik of The Hollywood Reporter said that "This screen version, "Little Nicolas," technically proficient and featuring two of France's best comic actors." However Jordan Mintzer of Variety criticized the film and said that "The clan of boys, and especially Nicolas himself, are too impeccably coiffed, dressed and mannered to resemble the ruffians depicted in Sempe’s drawings, or anything like real kids at all. Along with Francoise Dupertuis’ flamboyant sets and tidy lensing by Denis Rouden (“MR 73″), the result is a look of squeaky-clean postwar nostalgia, closer to Christophe Barratier’s “The Chorus” than to Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows,” which was set around the same time period." Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph also gave a negative review to the film by saying that "English-speaking children will have to read very quickly indeed to keep up with the subtitles in this meek French family entertainment, based on a series of children’s books by René Goscinny, original writer of the Asterix strips. Just William in mid-century Paris is a fair indication of tone, if perhaps not entertainment value."

Sequel

In August 2013, it was confirmed that the sequel to the film titled Nicholas on Holiday (Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas) would be released on 9 July 2014. Valérie Lemercier and Kad Merad reprised their roles in the sequel, with the character of Nicolas played by newcomer Mathéo Boisselier.