Hop-o'-My-Thumb ((Le petit poucet))

A Flach Film production, in colaboration with Arte France. (Worldwide sales: Pyramide Intl., Paris.) Produced by Jean-Francois Lepetit, Sylvette Frydman. Directed by Marina p Van. Script, Bertrand Santini, p Van.With: Ilian Calabert, Rachel Arditi, Adrien p Van, Denis Lavant, Valerie Dashwood, Thomas Momplot, Orfeo Campanella, Lilian Dugois."Harsh" might be the term that best describes French helmer Marina p Van's undertake "Hop-o'-My-Thumb," Charles Perrault's dark mythic of a diminutive boy deserted by his parents who comprises for his stature with elevated intelligence. Produced with the team behind Catherine Breillat's Perrault adaptations "Bluebeard" and "Sleeping Beauty," this telepic features a similarly tight budget and generic period look (mainly invoked by costumes) while again fusing a femme helmer's sensibilities -- here including flesh, violence and personality transfer -- by getting a time-old morality tale. Too grisly for children, "Thumb" should hop with a choose handful of fests. Story's been shot before in Gaul, including just like a 2001 kid pic by Olivier Dahan ("La Vie en rose"). P Van ("Throughout My Skin") brings an earthy matter-of-factness for the brutal tale in the titular boy (Ilian Calabert, okay), who, along with his four older brothers and sisters -- lower from Perrault's six -- must face a person-eating ogre (Denis Lavant, hamming up) after their muck-poor and (unconvincingly) desperate folks (Rachel Arditi, Adrien p Van) have abandoned them inside the forest. Gliding HD lensing is crisp, effects low-key, as well as the score's deeper undercurrents perfect.Camera (color, HD), Vincent Mathias editor, Mike Fromentin music, Alexei Aigui production designer, Francois-Renaud Labarthe costume designer, Marielle Robaut. Examined at Venice Film Festival (Horizons), Sept. 3, 2011. Running time: 83 MIN. Contact Boyd van Hoeij at news@variety.com