Imagine being a baby and remembering every moment of your life. Amélie (Loïse Charpentier) recounts everything from the moment she exists up to her present adventures. Staying completely mute until three years old, she believes she’s god and sees the world differently than everyone else. As time passes, she learns a list of valuable lessons about life, family, and identity.
Directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, the film made its Toronto International Film Festival debut today as a Press & Industry screening at Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film will screen twice more with Q&As to follow.
Little Amélie of the Character of Rain is further proof that a good story will always be more important than impressive graphics. While the drawings are simple and lack the technology that comes with a big-budget feature, they shine in their simplicity and visual brightness.
We join Amélie the moment she’s conceived, leading her to believe she’s God. Once she’s born, her immediate reaction to what awaits her is disappointment. She narrates her thoughts but stays mute to the outside world, leaving her as a peculiar presence among her family. A pivotal moment came when she tried her first piece of chocolate.
The taste ignited a newfound sense of curiosity in her, prompting her to break her silence and learn more about her environment. With an energetic brother and sister, the trio kept their parents on their toes, wearing down their dexterity and their sanity. Once they hire a new housekeeper in Nishio-san (Victoria Grobois), she and Amélie form an unbreakable bond. Growing an adorable attachment to her new housekeeper, Amélie sets out to learn everything about her surroundings in post-war Japan.
The film is a cultural marvel, allowing audiences to soak up brilliant imagery while immersing themselves in linguistic beauty. Amélie’s family is from Belgium and lives in post-war Japan, blending their regional dialect of French with Japanese culture.
Little Amélie of the Character of Rain gets an 8.5 out of 10. While its drawings are simple, they’re powerful enough to demand self-reflection. It’s a light, fun-filled adventure that covers a large swath of life experiences in under 80 minutes. The pace is extremely slow, but thankfully, all the screenings are earlier in the day. The film was adapted from the autobiographical novel by Amélie Nothomb. With an incredible story told from a unique perspective, this may very well be this year’s Flow.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of GKIDS
Genre: Animation
Rating: G
Runtime: 1 hr 15 mins
Trailer: Watch
U.S. Release Date: November 7, 2025