Le pupille (2022) User Reviews

Youth rebellion against grownups in a comedy short

[tamnoto · 8/10 · 28 December 2022]

This Christmas, I watched the 37-minute film Le pupille (The Pupil) on Disney+. It's one of the 15 films shortlisted for the Academy Awards early next year in the Live Action Short Film category. Set during wartime Italy, the film features little orphan girls living in a boarding school run by nuns, as they go about their routines on Christmas Eve leading to Christmas Day. There's a little bit of a musical number. But instead of singing "It's A Hard-Knock Life", the orphans act as a Greek chorus, opening and later closing the film, singing the summary of the plot as well as the denouement. The film contains themes of youth defiance against cruelty, injustice and totalitarianism encapsulated in a funny, bittersweet but not too saccharin-sweet story that is as heartwarming as it is profound.

At the center is the wide-eyed little girl Serafina (played by Melissa Falasconi, who received an Honorable Mention as Best Actor from the Philadelphia Film Festival), who brazenly stands up against the dictatorial Mother Superior, Fioralba (played by Alba Rohrwacher, the director's sister). The trigger for the main conflict is a humongous red cake which is given by someone for the orphans but the Mother Superior has other ideas for it.

The film's rebellion theme reminds us of Roald Dahl's Matilda and a past Oscar-winning short film titled Mindenki (Sing). But writer-director Alice Rohrwacher - a past winner at Cannes with 4 features films in her IMDb filmography - infuses Le pupille with so much tongue-in-cheek humor that keeps it from being too tense but still delivers the point precisely. Co-produced by, among others, the legendary Alfonso Cuarón, Le pupille is a wonderful, brilliant, entertaining and fulfilling short film. I look forward to seeing it listed in the Oscar nominations, to be announced on 24 January 2023.

The film is not as great as the cake, but it is still pretty good

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 10 March 2023]

"Le pupille" or "The Pupils" is a co-production between Italy and the United States from 2022 and this is one of the nominees in the live action short category at the 2023 Oscars. People say that this film has a decent chance to win the category, may even be the frontrunner, but I am not so sure about that, even if I liked the outcome as you can see from my rating. I watched all five nominees (plus the five from the animated short category) and I would say that this is probably my favorite from the bunch. It really had a lot of creativity to it without a doubt. The problem I see here is maybe that the subject is simply not relevant enough. But let's look at the basics first. If we ignore for a second that we have a previous winner direct another of the nominees, this short film here is the one that brings the big names. Alice Rohrwacher is the director and one of three writers and she has been an established filmmaker for years. About her co-writers Covino and Gotcher I cannot say too much, but I see that Gotcher has been prolific over the years too and that this is not the first time that Rohrwacher has collaborated with Covino. The lead actress is another Rohrwacher, namely Alba who is as prolific in acting as Alice is in directing. You can also add Valeria Bruni Tedeschi who has scored so many awards wins and nominations over her long career and it is nice to see actors like these perform in short movies. The genre deserves it.

With very few exceptions like the stunning Uccelli (Fernanda), the cast is mostly little girls. The story is set at an orphanage from beginning to end and the kids seem to have beautiful souls, but they are held back by the very religious woman running the orphanage. The children are humiliated on several occasions by her. I mean she does not hurt them physically, at least we do not find out about that, but you can call it mental abuse in a way I suppose. The delicious red cake is literally a depiction of the girls' beautiful spirits coming to life. You see a drawn version of the cake on the film's poster, but of course in the movie itself the cake exists and is part of the art direction and set decoration you could say. The production designs. It is also funny to see how the children as small as they are can barely look at the cake standing on the table. And it definitely looked so awesome there in the film that I would have almost killed for a bite of it. Great stuff. What do we have in film history? Red shoes, red balloons, red bikes? Now we have a memorable red cake. The girl's wit was awesome too, how she uses Rohrwacher's character's words against her in order to find a way to get her hands on the awesome cake and she is also a nice one as she shares it in the end with all the other kids who also live in the orphanage. There is no jealousy. And well, the rest of the cake is then given to a minor character at the end and sadly an accident happens and it falls to the ground, but they still eat it, so all is good. If you are looking for meaningful metaphors, symbolisms etc. There, don't look too long. The girls even sing the words that there is no such thing. It's just coincidence that happens and cannot really be predicted. It was all in a funny playful way there.

I really enjoyed the music here a lot. I also liked how at the beginning the girls told us the names of Rohrwacher for example with their cute voices. The setting and background here may be a bit on the dark side, but I would say that it is still a cute and uplifting and charming film. Right what you would expect when reading that Disney is in charge of a live action short film. That does not happen a lot at all. Maybe if we include some really old documentary shorts, then it was the case there too, but these are not action in the sense of acting anyway. I guess this is pretty much it then. But I still have to say that I also liked the comedic moment when we find out what the lady who brought the cake really wanted the orphan girls to pray for. Rather jealous than tragedy was the background there, but it was kinda hilarious. If this short film wins the Academy Award this upcoming weekend, I will surely not complain. The name Alfonso Cuarón who I think was a producer here on the nomination ballot surely helps. Vamos and forza pupille! I would say it would be really cool if they bring the kids to the Academy Awards then, but I guess the evening house are too late and also of course that this is not the Italian Film Awards, but takes place thousands of kilometers away. Also wonder if these child actresses were/are also orphans in real life, but I think not. Anyway, I am still curious if we see some of the girls in future film projects at some point, maybe even as grown-up actresses. This would also direct some attention to this film here then I guess. Never a bad thing. For now, go give this comfortable over half an hour a watch. I recommend it.

Cuaron

[yusufpiskin · 6/10 · 26 January 2023]

Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "This captivating and surprisingly suspenseful film shares with Rohrwacher's other work a wry sense of humor and a deep understanding of how people can be horribly evil, sometimes in the name of truth."

I'm leaving him a bit here because the tone created in the movie is definitely not original.

Firstly; Alfonso Cuaron is in the producer's chair of the movie, and the movie is almost a copy of A Little Princess, a re-make of Cuaron's 1995 movie.

Come on, I understand that those who haven't seen that movie can't see this obvious resemblance, but I don't understand how the big academy has let this happen.

A Christmas tale of Italian magical realism

[Kristonkiner · 15 March 2023]

Le Pupille is a short film by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher (Lazzaro felice). A Christmas tale with a strong connection between reality and imagination, which follows the usual atmospheres of the Bolognese director and this time combines Dickensian with an ineffably Italian magical realism.

The script, as wittily told by the orphanage girls themselves, is a free adaptation of the Christmas letter, which the renowned writer Elsa Morante sent to her friend and literary critic, Goffredo Fofi. The short film builds the story around the anecdote told in the letter, respecting in part, the writer's own words, which in the form of a song, is interpreted by the pupils of the boarding school. Le pupille, a title that in Latin means precisely girls and where the director gives it that imaginative double meaning, with those eyes of the girls, moving freely in any direction, a detail shot that becomes the central message of the short film.

With Le pupille, Rohrwacher gives free rein to all his poetic notes, already present in his feature films, and signs a unique short film that seems to come from another era, with that 16 and 35 mm photography of marked grain, the work of his usual collaborator Hélène Louvart, visually reminiscent at times of Jack Cardiff's Black Narcissus for Powell & Pressburger. She also allows herself to pay tribute to slapstick comedy without complexes, with those accelerations in editing, underlining the fleeting moments of joy. But above all it pays homage to the Italian cinema, references such as the Tavianni brothers, the Vitoriode Sica-Cessare Zabatinni duo, or Pier Paolo Pasolini, maintaining the difficult balance of reality and fantasy, in the genre of Italian neo-magical realism.

Le pupille is a humane and moving story about rebellion, morality and purity at an early age and how our actions have unintended consequences, in the face of the emptiness of some traditions.

*A more detailed review can be found on the youtube channel Kristonkino.

The Evil Nun

[jack_o_hasanov_imdb · 6/10 · 6 March 2023]

I did not like it. Although, the shooting style made my "not bad" reaction to the film. The production design was very good. The kids were very realistic. It was like a documentary. I was sad while watching the movie. It's still a matter of religion. We watch people who take their childhood away by imposing their ignorant narratives on children by naming them evil and bad. Alba Rohrwacher played so well that you hate the character. The nun who did not want to give the cake to the girls because she wanted to flatter the biship. However, after seeing religious and ignorant people in a movie, I got angry, as always. I hope one day everyone will understand the truth and investigate their religion. As a short film, it wasn't bad. Also, the singing scenes were very good.

"Destiny works in mysterious ways."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 18 February 2023]

I hate to be the fly in the ointment here, as the four other reviews here (at the time I write this) give a glowing description of this short film, heaping it with resounding praise. With a run time of about thirty seven minutes, I thought it rambled somewhat aimlessly without a clear focus for an eventual outcome. I do think the somewhat rebellious Serafina (Melissa Falasconi) was a cute foil for the domineering Mother Superior (Alba Rohrwacher), but I thought the story reached its high point when 'bad girl' Serafina defied Sister Fioralba's entreaty to sacrifice her slice of cake for a noble Catholic cause. When Serafina dug into her cake, it felt like the Mother Superior outwitted herself by claiming Serafina to be a bad girl earlier for repeating the words of a song the nun didn't approve of. Serafina rightly tried to explain that she only remembered the words, but didn't dance to the tune like the other orphan girls did when they heard it on the radio. Because she was 'bad' by the nun's definition, Serafina thought she was entitled to her share of cake that the 'good' girls gave up, and rightly so I thought, given the strict admonition of the nuns. Right after that, a chimney sweep showed up requesting payment for work done around the orphanage. The Mother Superior seriously shortchanged the man, giving him only five lire when he requested thirty five. When she tried to make up the difference with the remainder of the cake, he gladly carried it off, but fell face first into it as he trudged off to meet his co-workers. I didn't really see how that connected to the rest of the story, other than to fulfill the meaning expressed in my summary line above. But even then, it didn't seem a righteous fate for the poor worker to have been cheated out of his pay.

This Italian film is a contender for a 2023 Oscar in the category of Best Live Action Short Films. I was lucky enough to catch this short along with the four other contenders for this year's Academy Award at the Paramount Theater in Middletown, New York. If not for this limited showing, I don't know how else I would have been able to see it. So, Congratulations to the Paramount for making it available to enthusiastic cinema fans like me.

The best Christmas story.

[danybur · 10/10 · 17 December 2022]

Summary

An adorable Christmas story, never sappy or sentimental, where the Dickensian meets the ineffably Italian. A medium-length film in which Alice Rohrwacher admirably combines humor, irony, tenderness, musicals, pictorials, and comics to once again deal with power, religion, and micropolitics.

Review

The story takes place in a Catholic religious boarding school for girls during Christmas Eve and Christmas. We are in Italy, during World War II.

Based on a letter that the Italian writer Elsa Morante wrote to a friend, Le pupille is a wonderful Christmas story. The director Alice Rohrwacher, in less than 40 minutes, offers us a sensitive, humorous and deep story about that boarding school, with a relentless mother superior (Alba Rohrwacher, most just) and the preparations for her living nativity scene so that the convent raises funds in that such a difficult time.

One of the offerings that one of the aristocrats of the place will make (a devastated and funny Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) will generate an unexpected conflict in the convent. It is in this conflict where Rohrwacher ends up introducing his usual and acute (never obvious or pamphleteering) treatment of power, religion and micropolitics. The economy of resources and the originality with which the filmmaker expresses the conflicts and accumulated tension is remarkable, and she does it purely on film, combining the pictorial, humor, irony, musicals, and comics. As light as intense.

The film is adorable (like its childish cast), but never sappy, combining the Dickensian, the ineffably Italian and that fair tone suitable for all audiences but not childish, in line with the best and most classic exponents of the Disney universe.

THE BEST 38 MINUTES OF CHRISTMAS!!

[rosespixy · 9/10 · 29 December 2022]

First of all, what a wonderful short!

The cinematography, the actresses (so cute!), the setting and the whole story... I loved it so much!

If you are looking for something short, that will warm your heart and make you and your relatives smile, this is the right one.

It feels so personal and intimate, in those 38 minutes you are part of their world and you'll wish to never leave it. At least I did.

Having already read the letter that inspired this story, I was pleasantly surprised by the film, it was not the way I immagined it, but better!

It was better than I imagined, so vivid and full of emotions.

PURE JOY FOR THE EYES, EARS AND HEART.

Happy Christmas!!

Cute

[mickeythechamp · 4/10 · 24 February 2023]

Road to the Oscars 2023. This is nominated for 1 award and it´s best short film. Le Pupille is cute and I liked what I saw. It´s a visually strong and cute short with some adorable acting in it. I think it´s a bit just there without much purpose or moral which the movie itself acknowledges, which isn't really an excuse for me. But overall, I see why some love this and I might return to it to reevaluate me thoughts.

On a catholic boarding school, a group of girls prepare for Christmas. We follow their lives and learn that they are in the end just humans.

I think the actresses playing the little girls are so adorable. It looks like they enjoyed being on set and they are clearly having a lot of fun with the roles. They just play it up for the camera, especially during the songs, and it´s so charming and heartwarming.

I liked the idea of showing a lot of young impressionable girls being under the watch of a strict nun. They are being treated unfairly, especially when religion doesn't mean a lot to them, and they just want to have fun and be kids. It´s a story about the fact that kids are inherently thinking of themselves and don't understand all the cruelty and higher thoughts going on around them, they just want to dance and have cake, thinking about what they want themselves and not what´s right in the eyes of God.

While I think the story is nonexistent and the short can feel a bit purposeless the idea is still cute. I found the short had a hard time starting up for me, but as it kept going I got more invested. It´s just not really a short where the plot means a lot, but the overall execution leaves it kind of just there without much more to take out of it. It happens and then it´s gone without much rime or reason.

I liked the score. It was really out there and sounded really unique. I found it a bit obnoxious at times, but it grew on me.

I really liked the use of faded colors in the short. It´s a really toned down color palette and even the most colorful thing like the later cake has this dusty red color instead of vibrant. In general the dusty look carries over and creates these really relaxing frames in terms of mood. I liked the scene where the girls are in costume. It´s a striking image and sticks with you.

Le Pupille is fine but left me with nothing. I think it´s cute and shot and directed really well with a huge emphasis on it´s visuals. Sadly, the story lacked a bit for me and didn't leave me with much. I might need to give it another watch in the future to really have my overall thoughts, but they are where they are now.

Oscar predictions: I haven't watched any of the live action shorts other than this yet so I have no idea what it´s competition looks like. I could imagen the academy liking this since it´s from a company like Disney and has a strong visual style. But it´s up against former Oscar winners and some heavier dramas and subject matters as far as I understand so maybe it will has less of chance in that department. Either way, I hope there are some gold in the short category, this was fine.

Much more than a delicious cake!

[osmarcalhau-70034 · 10/10 · 5 September 2023]

Reading some negative reviews here, I even had doubts about the competence of director Alice Rohrwacher. As always I go and check with my own eyes. I'm surprised by the quality of this short! In a part of the plot we heard on the radio that those children are in the period of the Second World War, this already left me thinking at some point the peace and tranquility of (that) place changed drastically, but it is not this point that the director who told us Show. One of the points that caught my attention is the religious culture of the place, which is shown by the apparition of a passionate lady and, at the same time, the indoctrination of the church. Another criticism that was very clear in my opinion was hypocrisy about the real meaning of the coming of the baby Jesus, because the nuns in a part of Longa are extremely cold, insensitive and cruel with the children of the orphan who yearned so much for Christmas day. In short, a well-directed film with good photography where I wanted to follow the story of those cute and innocent children more.

More Proof that The Academy Awards are a Joke!

[fran-ohmsford-417-318109 · 1/10 · 9 March 2023]

How on Earth did this absolute rubbish get nominated for an Oscar!?!

I'm speechless!

Yet somehow I've got to find another 450 letters for this review.

....Err?

There's really nothing here to even talk about, some jaunty light hearted music around a frankly vicious little scenario.

It's not even a story, there's no plot, no characterisation and specifically no moral; as stated at the end of the 35 minutes this short film lasts without credits.

It's one of those art for art's sakes productions that I don't actually see any "art" in.

Technically it's well made but that's the antithesis of "art" - Art isn't about technicality, it's about feeling; And this "film" has no feeling!

An excellent short produced by genius Alfonso Cuaron

[UniqueParticle · 8/10 · 19 February 2023]

Based in a Catholic Church on a snowy Christmas time. Le Pupille is an adorable, a little goofy 38 minute short and fairly worthy of award nods! There's a lot of gentle and intense behavior mixed in. For sure well made but not the best Christmas story maybe close to it quite worthy of a high rating. All the girls involved are a wonderful magnitude of cuteness and joy! The nuns are a little harsh yet respectable. The production everything is so good, impressive, and a lot of charm packed in. The woman that keeps wanting to talk to the girls is great I love her style and dedication to what she wants. Would highly recommend all around very good.

Beautifully layered and crafted tale of the true meaning of giving

[janecreates-1 · 8/10 · 6 March 2023]

I loved this film. The children are all brilliant the the layered story about what giving and self sacrifice really mean is wonderful, and the look and direction are all expertly executed. Subtle yet strong gentle yet brutal this is a film that warmed my heart even thought I didn't see it at Christmas. And to get that many children having such great reactions is indicative of a very good director indeed. Although I should imaging that the schedule was long for a short. The costrules the feel and th me cinematography were all wonderful a true treat and Xmas confection for everyone. Bit of a pole in the catholic sides too!

It's So Cute I Could Vomit

[boblipton · 5/10 · 26 February 2023]

It's Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day, and the little girls at a school run by nuns must deal with instruction, cajoling, threats of perdition, and so forth.

It's 39 minutes of little girls being cute while nuns tell them they're evil, and then wonder why they refuse to give up their cakes when only evil girls do so. I'm as much in favor of watching cute little girls -- and one cute mutt that keeps sneaking into the place -- being cute, but by the time you reach that length, it needs more structure than frustrating nuns. There's no need to go full St. Trinian's here, but there needs to be something more than Melissa Falasconi being so sweet that everyone who watches this needs an injection of insulin.

Utterly Charming Fable

[dbowkerD · 10/10 · 13 March 2023]

Told in a style that might best be described as Moonrise Kingdom meets The Bicycle Thief, this little tale hinges mostly on the naturalism of its young actresses, framed but some more experienced adult actors to keep it together. The period details are solid, as are the sets and musical numbers that serve as Greek Chorus of little girls.

Several times there are moments when I was tempted to assume I knew where things were headed, but on each occasion I was happy to be wrong. That also is what makes this work so well; it swims within certain storylines but is willing to go off script enough to remain surprising.

a striving

[lee_eisenberg · 9/10 · 9 March 2023]

Among the Academy Award nominees each year, the live action shorts are probably some of the least seen, especially when there's a Hollywood movie where Tom Cruise narrowly avoids all danger. A real pity, because "Le pupille" ("The Pupils" in English) is one that everybody should see. Alice Rohrwacher's short depicts a Catholic boarding school in WWII-era Italy. The nuns try to keep the girls in line, but there's a girl itching to rebel.

It's appropriate that Rohrwacher's short is nominated in the same year as "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio", also set in fascist Italy. Both movies depict a desire to reject a strictly enforced order. Above all, this short reminds us that kids are often smarter than we give them credit for. I haven't seen the rest of the nominees for Best Live Action Short, but I'd say that this one would be fully justified in winning. Definitely check it out if you get a chance.

A surprisingly original and interesting short!

[PeetaFr0d0 · 8/10 · 7 April 2023]

This short movie is unexpectedly enjoyable, well-produced, well-acted and originally scripted. It also has surprising suspense and very well-performed musical numbers. The costumes and make-up are very decent and accurate with the period. The soundtrack is outstanding as well. The short also has something to say, concerning how people, especially in positions of power, in the name of righteousness (possibly hiding personal gain) can be horribly harsh. All of the little girls are totally charming and lovable, and they act well despite the fact that they are little children. In general, the production values are very high. The Christmas setting during World War 2 is very astute and justifies the reason why the nuns want to restrain the girls from hearing anything else except for the news from the Eastern Front. I highly recommend this movie, and I think it deservedly earned a nomination in the "Best Live-Action Short Film" category on the 95th Academy Awards.