A little 2 or 3 year old girl is left on a swing in a park with a note in her pocket saying the mother will return. It becomes dark, and the woman who found her takes her home to keep her warm and give her food and a place to sleep. The woman and her husband who have a little run down circus, grow to love the child although the husband worries how they are going to stretch their already limited resources; he gripes about it, but he is truly concerned and connected to the little girl. After many unintelligent efforts to find the mother, especially after a female suicide by drowning is reported, making them wonder if that could have been the mother, they first began to hide her from authorities who might take her away from them and then ask the teenage neighbor to help them understand the adoption process, which won't work because they are outside the age guidelines. Finally, they receive a note from the supposed mother that she will pick the little girl up in two weeks. The woman buys the little girl new clothes and fixes her up so that she will look very pretty for her mother. The neighbors stage a going away party for her with cake and champagne. Hours pass, the neighbors go home, and finally, the cold, hard realization that the mother isn't coming sets in. The movie ends with the woman holding the little girl and looking down at her with an expression of sadness that the little girl could have her hopes raised in this way combined with worry about how they will support her, combined with determination that they will. The winner of several international prizes, it is a film that shows that a slowly unfolding unsolvable situation can be as intriguing as high drama.
Review of Little Girl
