Little Nicholas

In 1950s Paris, a young boy named Nicolas and his friends get into all sorts of mischief, both intentional and unintentional. Matters worsen when Nicolas, a single child, thinks his mother is pregnant and a baby brother is forthcoming. A friend of Nicolas's has a baby brother and thinks brotherhood is horrible. Thanks to his friend's ideas, Nicolas believes this means his parents do not love him anymore and will abandon him. He and his pals embark on several schemes to raise 500 francs to have the baby kidnapped and left in a jungle.[5]

Nicholas and his group of classmates are instructed by their teacher to write about what they want to be when they grow up. His classmates, gluttonous best friend Alceste, rich boy Geoffrey, dimwitted Clotaire, surly and quarrelsome Eudes, eccentric Rufus, and gossipy top student Agnan, already have plans for the future, but Nicholas himself is unsure as he enjoys his life and he doesn’t want it to change.

One day, the class is interrupted by the arrival of another student, Joachim, who has a new baby brother and he is not pleased at all because no one ever prioritizes him. Joachim explains to Nicholas that he wasn't aware of the arrival, but he did observe his father's uncharacteriscally affective behavior to his mother. The next morning, Nicholas sees that his parents are affectionate to each other, causing him to suspect that they are planning to have a baby. He informs his friends about this, but they also grow suspicious about Joachim's sudden absence from the school.

After he returns home, Nicholas overhears half of a conversation his parents are having about inviting Mr. Moucheboume, Nicholas' father's hard-to-please boss, and his wife over for dinner, mistakenly assuming that it is about the new baby's arrival. When his father suggests a weekend escapade to the woods, Nicholas thinks this is a ploy to abandon him for his baby brother. For the next few days, Nicholas becomes determined to please his mother in everything, even attending a tea party with her friends, where he spends quality of time playing with a girl named Marie-Edwige and her girlfriends. Nonetheless, Nicholas' parents still take him to the woods and he refuses to come out, forcing them to push the car back home when they are unable to persuade him otherwise and spend the rest of the day arguing.

Nicholas' friends vow to protect him by forming a secret club. They try to clean up the house while his parents are away. However, their attempt results in failure, the house becomes a mess, and Nicholas gets grounded for the night. Losing all hope, Nicholas decides to run away from home, but he regrets it and returns. Later on, they decide to hire a gangster who can assist them in kidnapping the child. They learn that Blind Jack is on the loose, but Nicholas instead calls someone working in a garage, who charges 500 francs to strip the "body" down.

After several mishaps, they manage to make money out of selling a "formula" with superhuman strength, earning 530 francs in the process, despite getting chased by an angry man for making his son sick. Nicholas once again contacts Blind Jack, who requests a car, so they steal Geoffrey's father's car by tricking Albert, Geoffrey's butler, into stopping by at an ice cream shop. Just as they arrive, Nicholas and his friends are surprised to see Joachim, who only got chickenpox, with his little brother. After Joachim expresses how good brotherhood really is, Nicholas has second thoughts and abandons the plan. Nicholas returns home, excited to have a little brother, but his parents are confused and tell him that they are not expecting a baby. Frustrated, Nicholas tells his parents how they do nothing to make him happy. Nicholas' father makes some amusing faces to cheer him up, laughing with them.

As time passes, Nicholas hears that his mother is expecting a baby, but he is disappointed and angry to learn that she gave birth to a baby girl. When Nicholas' other relatives visit and admire his new sister, he vents to them about having desired to have a little brother and that he should've asked for a puppy instead. In response, they all laugh at his outburst and he smiles. Nicholas later remembers the teacher's previous assignment, to which he realizes that he wants to make people laugh. The film ends with Nicholas and his classmates having a photograph taken with their teacher.

• Maxime Godart as Little Nicolas
• Valérie Lemercier as Nicolas' mother
• Kad Merad as Nicolas' father
• Sandrine Kiberlain as the teacher
• François-Xavier Demaison as Mr. Dubon
• Daniel Prévost as M. Moucheboume, Nicolas' father's boss
• Michel Galabru as The Education Minister (1922-†2016)
• Anémone as Mademoiselle Navarin (1950-†2019)
• François Damiens as Blédur
• Serge Riaboukine as Francis Leborgne
• Victor Carles as Clotaire, the worst student in class
• Damien Ferdel as Agnan, the hypocrite and best student in class
• Vincent Claude as Alceste, the glutton
• Charles Vaillant as Geoffrey, the richest student in class
• Benjamin Averty as Eudes, the fighter (1998-†2018)
• Germain Petit Damico as Rufus, the son of policeman
• Virgile Tirard as Joachim
• Françoise Bertin as The old lady (1925-†2014)
• Michel Duchaussoy as the headmaster (1938-†2012)

The score for Le Petit Nicolas was composed by Klaus Badelt and performed by Geert Chatrou, Dirk Brossé, and Loïc Pontieux.[12] It was released on 28 September 2009 by EmArcy Records.[13][14] Renan Luce's second single "On n’est pas à une bêtise près" ("Was not a mistake near") from his 2009 album Clan miros appears in the end credits of the film, but it is not part of the album. The song was later released by Luce in October 2009.[15][16] The album received positive response on its release. Movienthusiast gave the album a positive review and awarded it three out of five stars, saying, "[The] music of this film is able to fill a variety of themes, [and] scenes usually pose a ticklish feeling in the audience themselves." In the soundtrack, Badelt uses "intelligent sound", combining bass drums, violin, harmonica, triangle, and even whistle. "Overall," said Movienthusiast, "every scene is filled by a variety of sounds from various instruments, giving them extra charm."[17]

Track listing

In August 2013, it was confirmed that the film sequel, Nicholas on Holiday (Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas), would be released on 9 July 2014.[30] Valérie Lemercier and Kad Merad reprised their roles in the sequel, with the character of Nicolas played by newcomer Mathéo Boisselier.[31]

• Le petit Nicolas, series of French children's books.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Le Petit Nicolas (film).

Wikiquote has quotations related to Le Petit Nicolas (film).

• (in French) Official website
• Little Nicholas at IMDb