Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

Rating

Director

Mailys Vallade

Screenplay

Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, Mailys Vallade, Eddine Noël

Length

1h 17m

Starring

Loïse Charpentier, Emmylou Homs, Victoria Grosbois, Yumi Fujimori, Cathy Cerdà, Marc Arnaud, Laetitia Coryn, Haylee Issembourg, Isaac Schmousky, François Raison

MPAA Rating

PG

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Review

Finding the beauty in joy and sadness is the heart of Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.

Amélie (narration by Loïse Charpentier and child voice by Emmylou Homs) is born in a vegetative state, her mind active but her body unable to respond. Her Belgian family lives in Kobe, Japan where an earthquake will wake her from her reverie and she’ll begin the delicate task of taking two years of inactivity and bunching it into the chaotic year that will lead to her third birthday. Although her grandmother Claude (Cathy Cerdà) ultimately finds a way to handle her, the time she has in Japan is short and Amélie’s care is transferred to Nishio-san (Victoria Grosbois), a modern Japanese woman who bonds with the Amélie’s childlike wonder, much to the chagrin of the family’s landlady Kashima-san (Yumi Fujimori).

Directing a beautiful hand-drawn picture, Mailys Vallade takes the audience on a journey of wonder in a two-dimensional environment filled with three-dimensional people and concepts. Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, and Eddine Noël join Vallade as co-writers in exploring the world of Amélie and the delicate balance of tradition and culture of Postwar Japan where anti-allied sentiment still festered in older generations. It’s an intriguing period in which to set the action and while it deals only partly with that era, it’s clear that influence forms a key backbone to the trajectory of events.

Nishio-san tells Amélie that her name is similar to that of the Japanese word for rain, Ame (雨) and this ties in the precocious and confident girl’s attitude with the film’s premise. The rain’s symbolism characterizes both the joy and sorrow she experiences as the events of the film unfold. Rain has historically been associated with the concepts of happiness and contentment as well as pain and mourning, experiences that Amélie will face in many ways in the very short life she has lived by the film’s conclusion.

The lovely animation draws less from anime than this year’s other major animated features but sees some influence in the basic style of characters, given western touches to make them feel universal rather than isolated to a particular region or genre. It helps the film come alive with compelling introspective moments, fascinating fantastical segments, and a story that warms the viewer’s heart.

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain has the heart of a 1990s Disney animated film with the self-reflective feel of early Pixar. Throw in the sense of wonder only masters like Hayao Miyazaki have been able to convey and you have a movie that feels part of a broader history of animated features and compares favorably to many of its best works. It might not be as inviting to younger audiences who will have few enjoyable moments to celebrate but as a work of art, it’s an impressive one.

Review Written

April 8, 2026