Fox & The Child DVD

Saw this on TV, and due to the exceptional photography, I knew I had to buy the DVD! A lovely relationship about a young girl & a fox. Tender, sweet, but never mawkish. Even people, only mildly interested in animals, will like it. Gentle enough for children, but hard enough for adults.I wasn't going to expand this review (after Keven's excellent review "Magical filmmaking"), but after some of the comments I read, I just had to. Maybe my US release is different, but I doubt it.First of all, let's clear up one misconception: the fox does NOT die in the end. Secondly, the film is NOT slow, and unless you only like high-octane films (crash, bang, wallop), you'll probably like the pace. It's a film about friendship, and friendships take time to develop. The creators knew this and paced the film accordingly. Also, I don't believe for a moment that that the fox was terrified whilst being chased. If that were the case, the producers wouldn't have been able to control the animals and everything would've quickly ended in chaos! The film is magical !

This is a stunningly beautiful film and an exquisite portrayal of a child discovering the wonders of the natural world and responding to it through her innate affinity with the wild environment she grew up in. We watch, mesmerised, as she develops acute sensitivity to the tiniest flap of an insect's wing around her. We see pure magic through her eyes, and become part of her slow earned tender intimacy with the fox. Yet we also witness the eventual tragic rupture of such a fragile bond, as she ultimately fails to appreciate that wild things will not be possessed. It's the most inspiring visual enactment of William Blake's lines: "He who takes to himself a joy /doth the winged life destroy / He who kisses the joy as it flies / lives in Eternity's sunrise". Unmissable, for those that wish to know the meaning of love.

This film actually came out in 2007 but only had a limited cinema release in the UK. It comes from the creators of the much acclaimed 'March of the Penguins' and is directed by Luc Jacquet. This is a French creation, narrated in english by the only headline artist many non-francofones will recognise - Kate Winslet. I had seen a press advert for the film when it was out in cinemas in the UK, but then forgot about it and so missed it on the big screen and that was a huge mistake for reason's I'll explain later on.OK...one big tip when watching this film for the first time so as not to spoil your enjoyment of it. You have to kind of leave your adult mind, values and responsibilities behind and try and view this film with the eyes and innocence of a child. Otherwise, you might start pulling your hair out in frustration mainly aimed at the child's parents, who we never actually get to see in the film. I found myself at times shaking my head is disbelief that there could exist such parents that would let their child wander off alone for seemingly days on end in deep mountain forests full of precarious ravines with frothing rivers, dark caverns and wild animals. More than that you really want to press charges for child neglect at them when it appears this poor young girl posesses just the one outffit which she wears more or less for the full duration of the movie, which spans the course of a year. But the film is not about the story of a family or even of the little girl. It's about trust and friendship and through experiencing the highs and lows that friendship brings...it is in the end about learning the difference between love and posession.So...having put aside your adult mind and all the cynical baggage that comes with it, you can start to be taken on a pure adventure, experienced through the eyes of a child...and the magic begins. The friendship at the heart of this movie is that struck up by the little girl and a Fox, whom she first encounters on her way home from school one evening walking through the forest (In know, I know...what about those irresponsible parents blah blah. We've put adult mind to bed now, haven't we?). The child becomes fascinated by her encounter with the Fox and is determined to tame it and befriend it. What follows is the gentle story of how both had to learn to trust and become familiar with each other when all their natural instincts have taught them that each must always eye the other with suspicion and fear. Having gained the trust of the Fox, the child is finally led to learn one of the biggest lessons of her young life when she discovers how easily friendship and trust can be broken, no matter how innocently. Now stop your balling - you are not going to experience a 'Bambi's mother death' scenario. Well...not quite.It's a slow paced film, charmingly acted by young Bertille Noel-Brunneau who is for 99.5% of the film the only human protagonist. All the rest is nature and an amazing cast of real animals. The real beauty of this film (and hence my angst at not having seen it on the big screen) is the cinematography. It is quite simply stunning. You just want to feast your eyes on the wonderful scenery, the changing of the seasons, the bright colours, and the amazing lighting. One minute you are taking in the grandeur a mountain sunset and the next, the delicate close-up beauty of a Ladybird. You can almost smell the outdoor freshness of the movie and you just want to breathe it in. Children and adults will love this film. If you are a nature lover, this is a must for your video collection.

Well ... I had never heard of it, but then I don't spend a lot of time watching dvds or films. I bought it for my grandchildren, aged 6 and 7. The photography is stunning - but it wasn't what impressed them. They rather liked the fox, who began to behave a bit like a dog, as the little girl patiently tamed her. My granddaughter identified with the little girl - but she didn't really understand the sophisticated plot and its lessons.So all in all, I think it is a film for older children, and adults.I was enchanted - what more can I say? The scenery is breathtaking, the child a consummate actress, and the fox very beguiling. What skill and patience went into this film - I was deeply impressed.A thrilling production.

Great just lovely

This a beautiful film and the photography is absolutely stunning, showing wild animals in their natural habitat. However the narration is very sporadic throughout and leaves long gaps of total silence which makes the film a little boring.My feeling is that this film would have been better in documentary style with the narrator giving useful information about the animals. Instead we follow the film through the eyes of a child who is seemingly allowed to wander around the forest and mountains completely on her own (which was very unbelievable) and who encourages the wildlife to accept her presence. We all know that we should not encourage wild life to accept human beings simply for their own protection.As an adult I think 'fine but totally unbelievable'. It is to be hoped that any children watching this film don't think that going out into the woods on their own, and befriending foxes, is the right thing to do. I hope they don't want to try it.

Einer der schönsten Kinderfilme, die ich je sah, so schöne Tieraufnahmen und Landschaftsszenen.Original Französisch mit franzöisischen Untertitel, gut, um das Franzöisisch besser zu verstehen.Super Bild- und Tonqualität.Gebraucht-BlueRay, aber war wie neu.Sehr empfehlenswert für die ganze Familie.

Ce film est vraiment magnifique visuellement et le scénario est simple et et efficace à la fois. La petite comédienne est adorable et touchante et on se laisse entraîner dans cette histoire, qu'on soit petit ou grand! J'ai été fascinée par ces images de nature, filmé d'une façon magique, durant les quatre saisons... Et c'est une belle leçon de vie... Un bon remède à la grisaille de la ville!

Pelicula romantica, con la protagonista muy guapa-.- Me gustan mucho las peliculas de Luc Jacquet que hizo "la marche de l'empereur.los colores la luz del paysage son estrupendos.. Pienso que es dificil de trabajar con un zorro !Poco actores,solo la chica, los animales....y la naturaleza. A mi me gusta mucho.Leccion de :vida No se debe confundir un animal salvaje, con un juguete...,.,Hablare con mi amigos.

Being almost 47 years old now, I can't remember the last time I watched a G-Rated movie that I enjoyed.THE FOX AND THE CHILD was a movie that I related to probably because of where my wife and I are in life.I call it coming "full circle".As a youth I grew up in a small to mid-sized town in Virginia.Whenever possible both as a kid and even as I grew up in High School or College I preferred to head out to the Mountains and Forest and spend time alone with nature as opposed to staying in the city and going to malls, nightclubs or parties.Some of my fondest memories are hiking to the top of waterfalls where I knew probably no other people were around for 6 miles and sit on a rock in the sun reading books or just watching black bear, deer and other animals.Like the child in this film, I remember 2 years that I kept running into the same few animals each Spring when I returned to the mountains.Until recently I had forgotten these old memories............. WHY ???25 years ago I moved to South Florida. I was a young man and I guess looking for a bit more excitement and job opportunities.Now I will confess, 25 years ago I thought South Florida was a tropical paradise and I would probably live there my whole life.I got into SCUBA diving, boating, beaches, the pool in the backyard , and the warm winters that make you forget Winter even exists. It's been great !But fast forward to today ..........Over the past year or two my wife and I agree something FEELS different.South Florida today does not feel like the same place we moved to 25 years ago.Yes, we all know nothing stays the same and everyplace changes ......... but the way this place has changed is Exponential.From population growth, demographic shift, traffic, urbanization, orange groves & farms eliminated and replaced with housing developments and over 240 new people PER DAY moving into the area, .................... We Came To A Sad Conclusion ....Our South Florida Is Gone !As a result, we recently purchased 120 acres of land in the Mountains up North only 60-70 miles from where we both grew up.It seems like coming full circle in life.I realize now the things we enjoy best are quiet seclusion and isolation out in nature and NOT the urbanized and mechanized world of zero lot lines, rude neighbors, light polluted night skies and a constant drone of ambient city noise.Now I know my personal story is of little interest to 99.9999% of you, but I told it only because it relates to the review of this movie.When watching this movie I started to think of how MOST kids grow up today .... Surrounded by tightly packed neighborhoods, I-PODS, Satellite TV and almost NO IDEA what nature is really like outside of TV shoes and the local park.Heck when we were kids, we ran around all day long on "Tom Sawyer - like" adventures and our parents did not know (or worry) what we were doing as long as we made it home by 6:30 for Supper.Now parents fear letting kids out of the yard for fear of pedophiles and other modern day social problems.Technological advances sure are great and wonderful -- but it does not always seem our Social, Moral and Ethical aspects of life keep progressing at an equal pace.So I watch this movie and wonder how few young people will ever understand this connection to nature in a world where the population seems to double every 10 years, it becomes harder and harder to escape Urbanization and people are forced to live on top of each other in tighter and tighter living arrangements.I can imagine a person born and raised in New York City who grew up to work on Wall Street, and with no life experiences outside the City seeing THE FOX AND THE CHILD and thinking it silly and childish.For somebody like me that has had the opportunity to live in both worlds, I found myself envious of the little girl in the film as it made me recall my earlier days.It also motivates me to work harder and faster to build a home on our recently acquired land so that I may be able to recapture some of that connection with nature I lost 23 years ago when I moved to the bigger, faster city way of life.I call it "coming full circle" and I hope I will be able to spend much of my last 20-30 years on Earth much like the story of nature depicted in this simple, well filmed, children's movie.A final note on the movie .... The ending (which I will not ruin with spoilers) teaches a lesson to younger children without being too dark and shocking.There is also a deeper symbolic meeting in the movie for adults.

Un film beau, beau beau, qui traduit toute la sensibilité et la pudeur de Luc Jacquet; l'auteur nous fait un récit autobiographique, avec un retour à l'enfance, afin de mêler curiosité et naïveté. Le choix d'un personnage féminin avec des choses simples (vêtements, cadre intemporel) doit aider le spectateur à écouter un conte...tout cela je l'entends en écoutant le making of de l'auteur.Pour moi, c'est un film "yetti-esque": endroits brut de Nature, des paysages du Plateau du Retord très impressionnants et pourtant si proches; J'ai été si longtemps coureur des bois, ce qui m'a d'abord impressionné c'est la concentration des animaux (ours, loutre, belettes, loups,lynx...grâce au parc des Abbruzzes)à proximité et de jour, la beauté d'une Nature si préservée malgré quelques traces des hommes. J'ai pensé plus aux grands parcs américains qu'à notre Nature européenne habituellement si massacrée, délimitée et défigurée. L'auteur essaye d'initier le spectateur au rythme de la vie dans la Nature beaucoup plus lent, c'est vrai que le spectateur non initié peut s'ennuyer, cela peut faire tomber les scènes d'émotions. Le documentaire animalier mélangé au film est assez époustouflant.Là le bas blesse, l'auteur s'est définitivement rangé du côté de la Nature, proche des animaux et il ne s'en rend pas forcement compte. Il pense être accessible au grand public par le choix de la petite fille Bertie; En fait, ses choix minimalistes, "économie de paroles", la volonté de ne pas faire sur-jouer les scènes, ou de ne pas accompagner la découverte de manière plus structurée et plus rythmée, fait que ce film n'est pas pour un tout public.L'Homme a pris l'habitude dès sa petite enfance à mélanger la notion d'Amour avec celle de la Possession; L'auteur est pur et contemplatif dans ses intentions. Il veut léguer un testament de souvenirs qu'il ne veut que très peu adapter, déformer ou écorner. Le film pose la question de l'initiation à la Nature que les parents devraient donner à leur progéniture; Très difficile à priori tant les sollicitations de notre civilisation commerciale nous conditionne à la prochaine activité. Apprendre à écouter à voir...Même dans le monde paysan, ce film ramène plus à une proximité quotidienne de la vie forestière propre aux situations du passé. pas de bruit de moto de trial, pas de bruit de tronçonneuse ou de générateur gazole.Un grand moment rafraichissant pour ceux qui sont sensibilisés à ce type d'émotions.