Tina Kakadelis
We have seen many a bildungsroman, but perhaps none with a protagonist as young as two years old. How many people remember their time as a toddler? Amélie Nothomb does, and wrote a semi-autobiographical novella about it in 2000 called The Character of Rain. Two-and-a-half decades later, Nothomb’s novella has been adapted into Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han. The animated film had its North American premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. To see the world through the eyes of a two-year-old is a special experience, and one that won’t be easy to forget.
The film opens much like the Bible, with a declaration that, in the beginning, there wasn’t much. Then God appears and fundamentally changes things. In the case of Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, the god in question is Amélie (Loïse Charpentier). She laments that she has been stuck unmoving, for what feels like centuries, while the world happens around her. In reality, Amélie is no deity, but has the godlike self-importance all two-year-olds seem to possess. She is the youngest of three children of Belgium parents. The family lives in Japan for the father’s job. It is the only life Amélie has ever known and she loves the country. More than anything else, she loves the family housekeeper, Nishio-san (Victoria Grobois). Through Amélie’s small, curious eyes, we begin to see the reality of her life in Japan.
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain takes place in 1969, when post-war tensions are still felt strongly. Amélie has heard people talk about this amorphous thing called “war,” but no one has taken the time to explain it to her. They think she’s too young, and sure, she won’t understand the nuances of it, but there’s value in explaining these events to kids in a way they’ll understand. At two, Amélie is full of questions, and it’s only really Nishio-san who humors her. That’s not to say her parents are uninterested, but they don’t always take the time to meet Amélie on her level. Nishio-san explains the war in a way that doesn’t shy away from the pain that Nishio-san felt, but can be digested by Amélie. Her parents tell her she’s too young to comprehend loss and death, but Nishio-san respects Amélie as a tiny human with a full range of emotions, a brain that aches for knowledge, and an inherent interest in the world around her.
One might think that by centering the story on a small child, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain would play to a younger audience, but that’s not the case. There’s an abundance of childlike wonder, but the heart of the film skews older. It’s not made for children in the sense that it doesn’t rely on physical or toilet humor, but Little Amélie or the Character of Rain would still make for a good introductory film for kids in the 11-13 range. These older kids will be able to appreciate the historical and cultural conversations that take place around Amélie and make sense of them in a meaningful way. The animation and narrative style are a blend of famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and French animator Rémi Chayé, who worked on layouts of the film. These two sources of inspiration mirror Amélie’s life, where she is torn between Europe and Japan. Her parents tell her that one day they will return to Belgium because that’s home. Amélie is distraught. Japan is home, she tells them. She is Japanese. It introduces the question of where identity comes from. Is it where you are born and grow up? Or does identity come from your parents and where they were born? Or is it something else?
When Amélie experiences her first spring, she and Nishio-san are caught in a rainstorm. The rest of the family has made a break for shelter, but Amélie can’t stop looking up at the falling rain. Nishio-san tells her that part of Amélie’s name in Japanese means rain, which thrills her. When they get home, Nishio-san teaches her how to write the character for áme: 雨. They write it on the lightly fogged window, and Amélie returns to it over and over again. In her short time on earth, Amélie is learning that things aren’t forever: that she may be forced to leave this home and Nishio-san for a country she feels no connection to. With the sort of bravado that can only exist in a child that young, Amélie declares, “If what is given will be taken, I have no choice but to remember.” Little Amélie or the Character of Rain is a stunning piece of memory-driven filmmaking. It’s a purposeful attempt to chronicle emotions of importance in a young girl’s life in a way that echoes in our own lives. We have no choice but to remember the people, places, and things that have shaped us.
