David (Vincent Lacoste) is a 24-year-old Parisian who makes a living doing odd jobs for the council, primarily as a gardener (or, rather, a "tree surgeon" as he prefers). He's just met and fallen for Lena (Stacy Martin), the new girl in town, but this sunshine turns to real rain when his sister Sandrine (Ophelia Kolb) is killed in a terrorist shooting. Their father is dead and their mother lives in London, so David now has to care for his seven-year-old niece, Amanda (Isaure Multrier). She, of course, is not initially told of her mother's death, and David has to think of how to break that to her while turning his entire lifestyle around in order to be her caregiver. With help from Lena, his eccentric but loving aunt Maud (Marianne Basler) and his best mate Axel (Jonathan Cohen), David gradually steps up and fights for legal custody of Amanda.
This unique family French family drama is a resonant and charming effort by director Mikhael Hers and his co-writer Maud Ameline. Rather than taking the frequently overdone route of feuding relatives, Amanda obviously chooses that of grief but through the perspective of a young uncle and niece, which to my knowledge has very rarely been explored in film. Thankfully, Hers and Ameline also sidestep maudlin overkill by focusing as much on David's innocent efforts to bond with Amanda as on his own pain and the parts of his life he hides from her; this makes for a cohesive and well-balanced narrative triptych, with fully authentic dialogue. As David, Lacoste conveys just the right blend of rambunctiousness and conscientiousness to convincingly portray a doting young uncle/father figure, and Multrier isn't excessively cute or emotional as his titular juvenile charge.
There's too little music, and for some reason Amanda's father is never even mentioned, but those two gripes aside, Amanda is a real little charmer. 8/10.
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