The Hedgehog (2011)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 67
Fresh: 59 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 4,712
Movie Info
Inspired by the beloved New York Times bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery, The Hedgehog is the timely story of Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) a young girl bent on ending it all on her upcoming twelfth birthday. Using her father's old camcorder to chronicle the hypocrisy she sees in adults, Paloma begins to learn about life from the grumpy building concierge, Renée Michel (Josiane Balasko). When Paloma's camera reveals the extensive secret library in Renée's back room,
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Josiane Balasko
Renée Michel, Renée Mi... -
Garance LeGuillermic
Paloma Josse -
Togo Igawa
Kakuro Ozu -
Anne Brochet
Solange Josse -
Ariane Ascaride
Manuela Lopez -
Vladimir Yordanoff
Paul Josse -
Sarah LePicard
Colombe Josse -
Jean-Luc Porraz
Jean-Pierre -
Gisèle Casadesus
Madame de Broglie -
Mona Heftre
Madame Meurisse -
Samuel Achache
Tibère, Tibère, Tib?re -
Valerie Karsenti
Tibère's Mother, Tibèr... -
Stephan Wojtowicz
Tibère's Father, Tibèr... -
ADVERTISEMENT
The Hedgehog Trailer & Photos
All Critics (69) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (8) | DVD (2)
"The Hedgehog" sneaks up on you with its heartfelt storytelling and sophisticated wit.
Top CriticA satisfying emotional experience.
A reminder that, sometimes, the movies can get a beloved book exactly right.
This a movie with such a light, stylish touch, it makes no claims to profundity and is a sweetly hopeful experience.
"The Hedgehog" is a treat: a movie that's smart, grown-up, wry and deeply moving.
Enchantment will go a long way toward overcoming implausibility, but there's not enough of the former here - and far too much of the latter.
11-year-old Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) is rich, precocious and extremely judgmental in the way that only a privileged child can be.
A French drama that finds its power in the little moments.
Le Guillermic is fine in this calm comedy of subverted exteriors and expectations, but it's the remarkably unpretentious -- earthy, even -- Balasko who anchors Achache's adaptation.
... it's Josiane Balasko that makes it work.
Balasko's performance is the highlight, as she breathes believable inner life into the stock character of the lonely, embittered widow.
A darkly comedic broadside aimed at stuffy French elitism.
Portrayed by Balasko with nuance, grace, intelligence and humor, Renee is a quietly terrific portrait of a deserving, dynamic woman who has long gone unnoticed.
With her film, Achache achieves a rare thing: She is faithful to the spirit of a terrific book but finds ways to make it come alive on film.
A charming performance by young Garance Le Guillermic proves key to the success of Mona Achache's adaptation of the popular Muriel Barbery novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog.
It's a brisk, touching comedy with a deliberately shocking climax and attractive performances from Josiane Balasko and Togo Igawa as the two people who change Paloma's understanding of life.
'Hedgehog' Bristles with French Charm
It's some feat for this gentle French drama to overcome the device of an impossibly precocious, camcorder-wielding 11-year-old narrator (Garance Le Guillermic), who has secret plans to commit suicide on her next birthday.
This film's main attraction is the terrific Balasko. She is so watchable that one almost forgets about the awful Paloma and her video camera.
The fate of a goldfish provides a subplot in a film strong on tender characterisation and rather wishful about the remedies for loneliness.
An affecting, watchable tale.
Audience Reviews for The Hedgehog
The story is told by the 11 year-old Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) and is telling us that she has decided that life is not worth living, and that most of the people around her exist in a pointless fishbowl that will only end in suffering. She informs us that she intends to end her life on her twelfth birthday, which will take place in 153 days... and everything starts rolling from there in a real tour de force!
Paloma is adorable even with her round eyeglasses and striped shirt, carrying a video camera wherever she goes. She is documenting the ridiculous and therefore tragic lives of the fishbowl people she lives among. The other two major characters in the story are the elderly Japanese man Kakuro Ozu (Togo Igawa) who moves into Paloma's building, and the building's janitor Rene Michel (Josiane Balasko), an overweight woman with no friends and a cat. Somehow, this trio (melancholic Japanese man, the depressive Paloma, and the gruff Hedgehog - janitor Rene) manage to bring out the best in each other. Charming performances, very well directed, perfect story - and here it is: one of the films you'll remember forever! Do not miss it!
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Hedgehog yet.
What's Hot On RT
Pictures from a zombie nation
Woody Allen in San Francisco
See the Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Where does This Is the End rank?
Latest News on The Hedgehog
August 19, 2011:
Critics Consensus: Conan the Barbarian is a Bloody MessThis week at the movies, we've got a heroic strongman (Conan the Barbarian, starring Jason Momoa and...
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 770856207 Title: The Hedgehog Release Date: 2011-08-19 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 2 Status: 1
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
Horror Movie Mistakes
Moviefone offers up 8 of the most obvious glaring errors in popular fright flicks.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 20
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 101
- Weekly Ketchup: Man of Steel Sequel In the Works 182
- Five Favorite Films with Joss Whedon 124
- Bonus Footage of the Cast & Crew of Man of Steel 1
- Critics Consensus: Man of Steel Is Up, Up, and Okay 277
Top Headlines
Foreign Titles
- Die Eleganz der Madame Michel (DE)
- The Hedgehog (Le herisson) (UK)
Paloma is a bright little girl that decides to commit suicide on her 12th birthday. Once the important is not how or when but what you're doing
when you die, she decides to make a film to show how absurd life is.
In the beginning she didn't convinced me, but now I remember of Le Diable Probablement and I can see some similarities between Bresson's character Charles and her: they don't have the "common" agnst or deep sadness that used related to suicidal people, but a feeling of certainty and, conequently, unadjustment.
Mona Achache works up such a difficult subject with humour and sensitivity. The images of Paloma's film in contrast with the film itself are great and the drawings, adorable.
I just didn't like the dramatic-expected fairytale/love tale.