Hop-ó-My-Thumb

Hop-ó-my-thumb and his four brothers are abandoned in the forest by their parents, unable to provide for them anymore. Incapable of finding their way back, they run into a cottage and ask for shelter. The woman who opens the door tries to convince them to flee because her husband is an ogre particularly fond of children’s flesh. But the five brothers insist to take refuge, choosing the ogre over the wolves. When the ogre comes back, he discovers the children and wishes to devour them immediately but his wife persuades him to until the next day. During the night, Hop-o’-my-thumb, cunning and unwilling to die, manages to escape, saving his life and his brothers’. He will learn the rules of power in this world and understand that nobody is to be trusted. Finally, it’s as a rich powerful dominator that this sweet and discreet boy will be back in his family. “What I found interesting in the adaptation of “Hopo’- My-Thumb” is that, in a fictional and even supernatural setting – dealing with childhood fears, fantasies and dreams which we all experienced – I saw an opportunity to adopt a perspective highlighting a very contemporary issue: the violence of the world, competition, the binding balance of power which controls all the familial and social relationships in our collective lives. That’s the vision of this world, strongly personified in the original text into the theme of flesh (animal flesh, human flesh…) in Perrault’s tale, that touched me and that I wanted to film, only modifying the conclusion, which seemed to me absurdly moralising.”

Marina de Van, director