Ma Petite Sophie – review

Director: Rubén Bautista

Release date: 2018

Contains spoilers

This Spanish film was based on a short film of the same name from a few years before and came somewhat from leftfield, appearing on UK Amazon Prime Videos in time for Halloween 2020 but with nothing within the description to suggest it was a vampire genre film.

Rather it talked about primary characters Sophie (Natasha Nejla) and Julio (Fernando Cano) celebrating their 5th anniversary when a person knocks on the door and the visitation impacts Sophie’s life forever.

Dream

So not a lot to go on and we actually do not start there. Rather we see rooftops and go down into a city where, in black and white we see a woman – whose head scarf is colourised – and we see her get a train. Within that montage we get moments where we see an old doll. Sophie is with her therapist, Violeta (Alba Santalla Fonte), who is also a friend of Julio’s family. Mention is made of five years and her picking up Spanish perfectly. Sophie talks about the dream (the opening montage) and suggests she is taking her medication (she isn’t). She is due to take a train to meet Julio.

hitchhiker

Violeta texts Julio – this is of course a professional failing and I felt that although it was touched on later thematically not enough was done with this. We see some of Sophie’s paintings and then she is on a beach, enjoying the sun, until clouds swarm above and it looks like a storm is drawing in. Meanwhile Julio, a dentist, is driving to meet Sophie. He spots a hitchhiker and picks her up. She gives her name as Diana (Laura García), claims her car broke down and is low level flirty. Julio misses a series of calls from Sophie, who is locked outside the house, but eventually realises and rather than take Diana to a garage drops her off nearby and gives her directions.

romantic meal

So Julio arrives at the house and Sophie is annoyed that he didn’t pick up her calls and she does seem rather neurotic at times – she is happy to help him with his French but becomes annoyed at French music playing, for instance. She also becomes annoyed when he makes a toast to another year much the same and, eventually, admits she has put in for an art scholarship in Italy. The disagreement is interrupted by a knock at the door.

doubting

Julio goes and it is Diana. She claims it to be a coincidence, that his was the only house with lights on and she is after charging her phone. We get a moment with her feet at the threshold, him inviting her in and her crossing it, the motion slowed. It is clearly a genre moment played out for the audience. She plugs her phone in but Sophie isn’t in the living room and so he goes to look for her. When he’s out of the room Sophie sneaks up behind Diana and bashes her with a statue. He comes in and Sophie forces him to help tie her up – claiming he broke the rules by inviting her in.

delusion or reality?

As she comes round she appears only to be a fearful victim of Sophie’s neurosis. For her part Sophie indicates she knows her and then claims she is her mother – something she is clearly not old enough to be. The woman appears to not know the French Sophie questions her in and, eventually, Sophie tells Julio that Diana (not her name, she claims) is a vampire. However, is she actually a vampire or is Sophie, off her meds, having a psychotic break? It becomes apparent that, if it is the latter, it is not a new thing, when she removes a large stake from an art case.

Natasha Nejla as Sophie

Well, I won’t spoil the truth or otherwise of the belief, but the film is interesting. With limited cast and location there has to be much done with little and for the most part the actors carry this well. The Sophie character can be a tad annoying with her neurotic moments – deliberately so, one feels, as those moments making us wonder at her perception of truth. However, though they carry it well there is room for more and another cast might have carried this to greater heights again. The sfx are limited, one assumes due to budget. 6 out of 10. The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK