The Dandelions

About The Film

A French-Jewish girl seeks freedom from her overbearing parents in THE DANDELIONS, an endearing and poignant coming-of-age dramedy that deftly explores the burdens of the adult world from a child’s perspective.

Sassy nine-year-old Rachel Gladstein (Juliette Gombert) is caught between the smothering love of her Tunisian-Jewish, meatball-fixated mother (Agnès Jaoui); her largely disinterested and Holocaust-obsessed father (Denis Podalydès); and her sickly grandmother (Judith Magre) with whom she shares a bedroom. The family dysfunction prompts therapy with a most unusual psychiatrist, Madame Trebla (Isabella Rossellini), while Rachel’s life is further upended by a touchy friendship with wild-child classmate Valérie (Anna Lemarchand). The staidness of a 1980s provincial home is blended with childlike flights of fancy through imaginative cinematography, production and costume design.

Adopted from the Raphaële Moussafir novel and featuring engaging performances by a cast of A-listers and standout child actors, THE DANDELIONS brims with nostalgia while confronting the bittersweet lessons of life.