The Hedgehog

Original title: Le Hérisson

2009
12
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

10K

YOUR RATING

Josiane Balasko and Garance Le Guillermic in The Hedgehog (2009)

A look at the curious relationship between 11-year old Paloma, her building's janitor, and an elegant new tenant.

Play trailer1:44

7 Videos

17 Photos

Drama

The life of a determined young girl is changed when she befriends her building's concierge, a solitary woman who is more than what she seems.The life of a determined young girl is changed when she befriends her building's concierge, a solitary woman who is more than what she seems.The life of a determined young girl is changed when she befriends her building's concierge, a solitary woman who is more than what she seems.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

10K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 10 wins & 7 nominations total

User reviews37

Featured review

10/10

empty world through the eyes of an eleven-year-old

Mona Achache's movie "Le hérisson" ("The Hedgehog" in English) is about a Parisian girl leading an unfulfilled life with her affluent family, and so she decides to commit suicide on her twelfth birthday. In the process of filming her apartment and family, the girl befriends the concierge.

The movie presents a good contrast between the girl's disillusionment with her posh but superficial world and the concierge's appreciation of what little she has, and showing how the concierge is able to develop a relationship with a Japanese widower who moves into the apartment building. The girl's filming her sister throughout the goldfish bowl is a metaphor for the new look that she's taking at her bourgeois existence. In the end, the girl does start to reconsider her suicidal plans. Achache made a very good movie, one that I truly recommend.

Videos7

Trailer 1:44

The Hedgehog

Clip 0:51

The Hedgehog: Paloma Likes To Hide

Clip 0:51

The Hedgehog: Paloma Likes To Hide

Clip 0:51

The Hedgehog: The Hedgehog

Clip 1:25

The Hedgehog: Mrs. Rene Michel

Clip 0:41

The Hedgehog: Kitty And Levin

Clip 1:00

The Hedgehog: A Japanese Thing

Photos17

+ 11

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Togo Igawa (Kakuro Ozu) learned his French lines in the movie phonetically. He does not speak French in real life.

Goofs
When Paloma feeds the anti-depressant pill to the fish, the fish dies instantly. The fish would not die this fast.

Quotes
Paloma Josse: Planning to die doesn't mean I let myself go like a rotten vegetable. What matters isn't the fact of dying or when you die. It's what you're doing at that precise moment.

Connections
Featured in On demande à voir: Episode dated 24 June 2009 (2009)

Soundtracks
Requiem en Ré mineur: Confutatis maledictis
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (as W.A. Mozart)
Performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra (as Orchestre Philharmonique de Slovaquie) and the Slovak Philharmonic Chorus (as Choeur Philharmonique de Slovaquie), conducted by Zdenek Kosler (as Zdeneck Kossler)