«Petite nature» is, at last, a film that speaks with sincerity, respect, and intelligence about those difficult moments in childhood or adolescence, in which the confusion caused by the social environment, the reaffirmation of sexual orientation, and the pressure to decide how we will face and assume adult life lead boys and girls to take decisions and actions that define their lives, not always in the best way.

This is not one of those movies in which someone sell us the idea that this "happy" phase is a constant in our lives or has melodramatic phases that can be easily resolved with a mellow song, when idenfiying in particular with any of the non-binary options means having a lot of courage to face prejudice and exclusion and, above all, understanding what your option means, beyond having pleasant relationships with people of your same or different option. «Petite nature» is a semi-autobiographical drama written and directed by Samuel Theis, a French filmmaker of working-class origin, about the sexuality of children and adolescents, in which Theis was able to give it a universal dimension in the growth of any human being.

«Petite nature» is the story of Johnny Jung, a 10-year-old boy, intelligent and sensitive, the son of a broken marriage among the French working-class in Forbach. When his mother Sonia decides to separate from her current partner, Johnny, Sonia and his two brothers move to another sector, where the boy attends school and meets Jean Adamski, a young teacher who has come from Lyon with his wife Nora. Johnny is emotionally attracted to Adamski, who opens the doors of knowledge for him, and he starts to become aware of what he can obtain or lose, because of his position on the social ladder.

Adamski and Nora help Johnny when Sonia hits him, and later they take him to see the Centre Pompidou in the city of Metz. Both are middle class professionals and Johnny associates them with options he was unaware of firsthand. A quiet neighborhood, a cozy home, good food, careers with more perspectives, and educational options. On the contrary, although Sonia loves him, is combative for her three children and aggressively reproaches him for being soft and not confronting the "bad boys" in the neighborhood, her example is not what Johnny would like for his future: work in a neighborhood store where she may not even earn the minimum wage, being promiscuous, angry, and abusive. At a key moment in the story, Johnny, in a hysterical outburst, accuses his family of being "clochards", lazy and useless bums, resigned to the crumbs thrown at them in the country's socioeconomic context.

The film climaxes when Adamski reacts violently and perhaps cruelly when Johnny tries to seduce him. And I have not ruined the film for you. This may well be the climax: there is no return, what follows is the most valuable part of the film: how Johnny faces this multifaceted crisis.

Theis combined professional actors (Antoine Reinartz, Izïa Higelin as the Adamskis) with natural actors from Forbach and Metz (Melissa Olexa as the mother, her children and boyfriend) and found Aliocha Reinert in Nancy for the role of Johnny. Son of a father specializing in adult education and a professor, Aliocha, upon receiving the proposal, asked for days to think about it and finally accepted because he felt he could "defend the character", resulting in an outstanding performance.

An excellent film, highly recommended.

It actually should be another (character) name and I may be the only one who connects this with this other movie ... but I hope my summary line does not throw you off too much. Maybe it makes you watch another movie too - even if the connection is only thin ... and that would be an exaggeration ... so if I say no pun intended - you may not even see a pun here.

What you do get to see here is a young boy who seems to struggle to fit in. He grows up in an environment that would need him to be tough .. to have at least a thick skin ... but he is sensitive, even frail I reckon you could say.

When you get to learn him, when he opens up, when the revelations come up (not too surprising, yet not too cliche in my book either) ... you will understand better. And he will start to change ... you can read a lot into how the movie is ending ... I like to interpret it as ... let's call it progress. But you are free to put your own ... spin on it (is that a pun? Well ...)

There is something about 'coming of age' movies, that if done well, have the ability to reach out and touch you, whether you have directly experienced the incidents depicted in the films or not. And Petite Nature (Softie) is done very well.

Director, Samuel Theis has discovered in Aliocha Reinart, a precocious talent who has the potential to become an international star if the adults around him shepherd him in the right direction.

At around the 1:15:00 mark, Reinart delivers and furious, cathartic outburst towards his mother and other family members that was so powerful I had to rewind the film and watch it again.

It does not surprise me in the least that Reinart was nominated 'Most Promising Actor' at both the 2023 French, César Awards, and Lumiere Awards for his role in Petite Nature, and deservedly so.

Given this wonderful debut performance, Aliocha Reinert is definitely a name - and a face, to watch.

Oh, and of course, I highly recommend readers seek this film out, and watch it for themselves. There is nothing 'petite' or 'soft' about this powerful film.