Line #8 Film/LePupille


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0935.jpeg]]
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3	''Le pupille'' (The Pupils) is a 2022 short film (37 minutes) from UsefulNotes/{{Italy}} directed by Alice Rohrwacher.
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5	It is set at a Catholic girls' boarding school in [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly Italy]] at Christmastime during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, in 1940-42. Although one girl leaves to spend the holiday with her family, most of the children are apparently orphans and the school is effectively an orphanage. Times are tough with wartime food shortages. The kids at the school put on a Nativity tableau in which parishioners come to ask for prayers; the donations the parishioners give are a vital supplement to the school's limited supply of food.
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7	An upper-class woman brings a fancy custard cake (which everyone calls "English soup") as an offering to the kids in the Christmas tableau. The kids, who aren't exactly starving but definitely aren't overfed, look at the cake hungrily, but Mother Superior Fioralba gets the bright idea to offer the cake up to the bishop as a present, in hopes of getting more money for the school. This decision does not work out.
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9	!!Tropes:
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11	* BigShutUp: Sister Fioralba reacts to seeing the kids singing and dancing to a pop song by screaming "STOP!" Or, in Italian, "FERMATEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
12	* BrickJoke: Sister Fioralba grossly overreacts to the kids singing along to a song on the radio, making them wash their mouths out with soap. Later, as Sister Fioralba and another nun commiserate about how they're running low on food and other essentials, they mention being out of soap.
13	* CallBack: Mean, super-strict Sister Fioralba overreacts to little Serafina having memorized the lyrics to the pop song, calling her "wicked". This pays off later, when Sister Fioralba is badgering the girls to give up their cake. She challenges all the good girls to stand up as a signal that they're willing to give up cake, but Serafina doesn't stand up. When asked why, Serafina says that she isn't a good girl, because the Mother Superior called her wicked.
14	* ChekhovsGunman: The workers seen on the roof in the opening scene. Later, their foreman comes in and demands payment. Since Sister Fioralba does not have the money to pay them, she instead gives them the cake.
15	* CreativeClosingCredits: Creative opening credits, which appear as writing on a notepad, while also being read out loud by the children.
16	* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: After Sister Fioralba throws open the blinds, there's a montage of the girls' pupils constricting as they're suddenly subject to bright light.
17	* DoubleMeaningTitle: The kids are students aka "pupils" at the school/orphanage, but there's also a montage of their pupils constricting to light when Sister Fioralba opens the blinds.
18	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The kids are outside, laughing and giggling, when Mother Superior Fioralba barks "I want you in order! Two by two!", before leading them inside. She's established as severe and strict.
19	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
20	* GreekChorus: At the beginning and again at the end, the girls form a choir commenting on the action. They are actually singing a letter apparently sent by a grown-up Serafina telling the story.
21	* HeartwarmingOrphan: Serafina, a cute little girl with big {{Moe}} eyes and also an orphan at an orphanage on Christmas, who wants nothing more than a piece of cake. After demanding the cake she winds up throwing it to the stray dog that has been skulking about.
22	* HitlerAteSugar: The girls complain about having to pose in a very chilly church at midnight for the Nativity scene. Sister Fioralba (who to be fair knows that the school badly needs the offerings from parishioners) says that if they go to Hell it will be very warm there.
23	* OneGenderSchool: A Catholic school/orphanage for girls during World War II.
24	* SoapPunishment: Sister Fioralba catches the kids singing along with a song on the radio with the lyric "Kiss me, baby, on my little mouth." She washes their tongues with soap.
25	* SternNun: Mother Superior Fioralba doesn't quite rise to the level of "evil" but is certainly strict, bossing the kids around, strong-arming them into giving up their Christmas cake, and calling Serafina "wicked" for just remembering the lyrics to the pop song.
26	* {{Tableau}}: The orphans put on a Nativity scene, in which they strike static poses as angels, shepherds, Wise Men, and the baby Jesus, everybody except Mary and Joseph who are played by nuns. This is expected by the parishioners, who come by at midnight to make special prayers, and it is also a big deal for the school, as Sister Fioralba is counting on the money and food they're supposed to get to stretch their inadequate supplies.
27	* TrashcanBonfire: A trashcan bonfire is burning outside the church, demonstrating how the privations of war are hitting home to Italy.
28	* VisualTitleDrop: A montage of the girls' pupils constricting as Sister Fioralba opens the blinds to their bedroom in the morning.
29	* VoiceoverLetter: A sung voiceover letter. The girls of the school sing a letter from grown-up Serafina, obviously many years in the future, telling the story of one particular wartime Christmas at the orphanage.

Context Film / LePupille