A Little Romance tells us the story of Lauren and Daniel.
Lauren is an American teenager living in France.
She meets and falls in love with Daniel, a local she goes to school with.
Lauren’s mother does not approve of their relationship.
Desperate to be together, Daniel and Lauren enlist the help of Julius, who helps them
elope.
At the beginning of the movie, we see Daniel Michon; he is the protagonist of the story.
He sits in a cinema—a place he can often be seen at.
Movie after movie, he loses track of time, but rushes out once he takes a glance at one
of the gentleman’s watches.
He goes to different shops and gathers different groceries to bring home.
Once he arrives, we get to see his father, who asks him why he’s late.
Daniel lies that he had to stay and help at school.
His father tells him to be quiet, as a horse race pops up on the TV screen.
Daniel does his bidding, and once he sees “Snow-Queen” winning, he goes to his room
and writes down the race, as it is one of the many he had won.
Daniel is taken on a school trip the next day, but little does he know, he will be walking
in on a movie set.
The shooting is cut, as the young teenagers walk in and stare at the set.
The producer gets irritated, and all the kids are asked to leave.
While the chaos is happening, Daniel sneaks into one of the rooms, where he sees a young
lady.
He overhears that the girl’s name is Lauren, and calls out to her.
She turns around, and he tells her to call him “Bogie”; she asks why, and he references
a movie, and says that “Bogie and Lauren” belong together.
Their conversation is cut by her mother coming in; Daniel hides and listens to the nonsense
her mother tells her.
She asks her why she’s reading a book, instead of watching the set, and Lauren tells her,
it’s because she was bored.
The producer George walks in, and asks her mother to show her how the camera works.
Daniel walks out, and asks whether her mother is an actress.
She says no, but she has come to watch George on set.
Lauren asks him whether George is a good producer, and Daniel tells her that his movies are the
worst.
They laugh, and Daniel’s friend walks in and tells him that they’re looking for him,
so they should get going.
Daniel says goodbye to Lauren, and she asks whether she’ll see him again.
Confidently, he says yes.
Daniel continues the tour with his teacher, but she stops once she notices, a girl that
isn’t in her class, at the back of the line.
All attention turns to Lauren, and Daniel realizes that she followed him.
Lauren tells the teacher, that her tour had been interesting to her, and that’s the
reason for her interruption.
The teacher tells her, that she’s welcome to join, and Lauren does so.
On their lunch break, Daniel and Lauren sit down, and enjoy the food Daniel had made.
He didn’t expect Lauren to know French, and was very surprised when he heard her speak;
she says the same about his English.
Lauren asks about his family, and Daniel says that he livs with his father, who drives a
taxi; he steals from people by charging them more than he should.
Lauren says that she has a mother and a father; as a matter of fact, she is on her third father
at the moment.
She gets called by a crew member, who says that the crew is looking for her.
Lauren rushes, but doesn’t leave before she schedules a date with Daniel.
They settle on meeting on Monday, three o’clock, at the train station.
Lauren goes home, and is forced to listen to her mother go on about George at lunch.
She excuses herself, and says that she has to call her friend Natalie for homework.
Her mother worries, because she is different from other kids; she would rather read a book
than watch television, which is unusual for a teenager.
Lauren gets to the living room, and calls Natalie.
She tells her, that the professor had said, that she would have to make up for being absent,
by attending on Monday.
Lauren says she can’t, and Natalie asks why.
She tells her that she has met a boy, and Natalie asks for the details.
Her mother can’t find out about Daniel, because she’ll have a fit, as he isn’t
in the same class as they are.
Natalie asks her whether she’s in love, and even though Lauren tries to deny it, she
admits that she is.
She hangs up the call, and her stepfather walks in.
She hides the book she’s reading, and he asks her to see it.
He is shocked to see that his daughter is reading a book about Metaphysics, and is even
more shocked when he finds out that she’s reading it for fun.
He asks her why she’s hiding it, and she says that people would think she’s weird.
Monday comes, and we see Daniel waiting for Lauren.
But, she’s nowhere to be seen.
Natalie runs to him, and tells him that she can’t come because of the test.
She says that Lauren had asked to reschedule their date for Wednesday.
Daniel agrees, and tells Natalie that he’ll be waiting at the Louvre.
Their date finally happens, and we see them walking the square.
Daniel tries to be a gentleman, and offers to carry her bag.
The bag opens, and all of the books fall out.
He picks up a book by Heidegger, and is impressed that Lauren is reading such a book.
He asks her about it, and she lies and says, that it is for a school assignment.
They get into a discussion about the book, and both realize that they have much in common.
Lauren asks Daniel for his IQ, and he says that he has never been tested.
He is afraid that it would be too high, and people would think he’s weird.
Lauren says she understands him.
Her IQ is 167, but she decides to hide that fact.
A ball comes Daniel’s way, and he kicks it.
The ball ends up hitting an elderly man, who falls to the ground.
The kids rush to help him, and get him up.
The man is surprised that Lauren is American.
He says that he loves Americans; he had been stationed in Washington, when he worked in
America.
He introduces himself as Julius Edmond Santorin,, and says that he is retired.
He asks them to join him for a hot chocolate and a delicious pastry.
He talks about his wife Emilienne and different stories of their marriage.
Lauren seems to be fascinated by the life the old man has had, but Daniel seems to be
bored.
Julius continues to talk about his wife, and says that she had been gone for twelve years.
He reveals that today was the anniversary of her passing.
He had been going to the cemetery, but a large red round object had stopped him in his tracks.
He says that his wife wouldn’t mind him being late, as he goes to her grave every
week.
Julius quotes a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Lauren says that she is her
favorite author.
The old gentleman says, that she was his and his wife’s favorite as well.
He tells her a story about when he and his wife had been to Venice.
One Sunday, the plumbing had to be fixed in the villa they had been staying.
Julius says that he had gone down himself to try to fix it, and found a paper that contained
Browning’s poetry—mostly drafts.
They were staying in Browning’s villa, and didn’t even know about it.
In one of Browning’s diaries, Julius had found a story about an old Venetian legend.
The legend goes: if two lovers kiss under the Bridge of Sighs in a gondola at sunset,
while the bells of campanile toll can be heard, they will love each other forever.
Lauren asks whether it’s true, and Julius tells her that Browning had died in her lover’s
arms, some years later.
She asks about him and Emilienne, and he says that the legend is true, with a sad smile.
After they’ve had hot chocolate, Lauren and Daniel rush to the train station.
He tries to kiss her, but sees an old lady glaring at him.
The train comes, so Lauren invites him to her birthday party the coming week.
She kisses him sweetly before leaving.
Lauren comes home in an amazing mood, and greets her parents.
Her mother starts reading a list of foods for a party, and Lauren, assuming that she’s
talking about her birthday party, says that she only wants cake and ice cream.
Her mother tells her that it’s not for her party, but for George’s wrap party.
She says it’s on the third, and Lauren gets upset, because she won’t be able to have
a party of her own, because her birthday is on the third as well.
Her stepfather jumps in, and suggests she has a party as well; it could be her birthday
party and George’s wrap party at the same time.
Lauren smiles and says that she likes that idea.
When Lauren leaves the room, her stepfather tells her mother, that he had accepted the
transfer to Houston, and they will be going back to America the next month.
The next day, Lauren goes to a museum from school.
She invites Natalie to her birthday party.
She also invites her to a sleepover the following night, because she wants to spend some time
with Daniel, without her mother knowing.
Lauren goes out with Daniel the next day.
They are not allowed into the cinema, because the movie they’re trying to watch is for
adults; Lauren had forgotten her ID as well.
They leave the cinema, and head to another cinema with Daniel’s friend Londet.
They go to the back, and proceed to watch the move through a small opening, that fits
the three of them.
The movie gets too much for Lauren, so she leaves Daniel and Londet to it.
Daniel notices that she’s gone, and goes to look for her.
He finds her outside the cinema, and goes to her.
He apologizes, and says that he wouldn’t have taken her, if he’d known that the movie
was going to be so gruesome.
They take a walk, and Lauren says, that she had always thought that there was someone
perfect for her, but the chances of that person being alive at the same time as her seemed
slim.
Daniel says that he feels the same, and that even if she had lived at the same time as
him, there the chances of her being in the same place as him are low.
Friday comes, and it’s time for Lauren’s birthday party.
Lauren seems to be bored, but her mood changes once she sees Daniel standing at the door.
They greet each other, and Daniel says that he had brought Londet with him as well.
Lauren’s stepfather, Richard, comes and greets the young boys.
Daniel says that it is a pleasure to meet him, as he shakes his hand.
He says that Lauren speaks highly of him, and Richard smiles.
The kids head upstairs, and Daniel manages to steal a bottle of champagne on the way
up.
They get to the room, and Daniel pops the champagne; Lauren gets surprised, and grabs
some glasses for them to make a toast.
Daniel says that he likes Richard, and that makes Lauren feel warm.
They toast and proceed to open the gifts.
Natalie gives her a book, Daniel gives her a signed picture of an actor, and Londet gives
her a poster of an erotic film.
The kids end up flusttered, but decide to steal some more champagne.
so Lauren and Daniel go downstairs to the party.
Lauren stands on the side, and Daniel goes to grab it.
Before he does so, Daniel hears George make a disgusting comment about Lauren.
This pisses off the young gentleman so much, that he punches George in the stomach.
He tells him to apologize, and says that his jokes are as bad as his movies.
Lauren’s mother gets upset, and tells her to go to her room.
She tells Daniel to get out, and he says that his coat is in her room, and goes to grab
it.
He helps Lauren up the stairs, but her mother sees them and starts screaming, that Daniel
has gotten her daughter drunk.
Natalie and Londet seem to be enjoying themselves, but their fun is cut short by Lauren’s mother
bursting into the room.
She sees a poster, and assumes that the kids have gotten into some explicit activity.
Richard tells her not to be ridiculous, and Lauren says that they had champagne, opened
gifts, and didn’t do anything else.
Her mother ends up ripping the poster, and the kids take that as a sign to leave.
Lauren is left with her mother, but before she leaves, her mother tells her, that she
isn’t allowed to see the boy again.
Her mother also tells her that they will be leaving for Houston by the end of the month.
A couple of days pass, and Lauren and Daniel meet at the cinema.
She says that it is the only place her mother wouldn’t suspect, that she’s with him.
She tells him that she wants to run away; at least until they get caught.
She wants to go to Venice and kiss under the bridge, and even though Daniel doesn’t want
to go to Venice, he agrees because he wants to spend time with her.
The next day, Lauren takes Natalie, so she can meet up with Daniel.
Daniel sets Natalie with Londet, so he and Lauren can have some privacy.
He takes her to the side, and suggests taking her Christmas savings, and betting them on
the horses.
Lauren thinks of a way that they can win for sure, and comes up with an idea.
She has to get a hold of a computer, and program the performances of the horses, so she can
get the one with the best results.
She goes to her father’s office ,and asks him to show her how to use a computer; he
calls his assistant, and she takes Lauren to operations.
She meets up with a man who knows how to handle computers, and tells him what she wants to
be done.
He tells her that he has been working on a program that can make him win the race, but
he isn’t even close to concluding it.
Lauren suggests he show it to her, and he says that he cannot let ten months of work
be taken away by some girl.
She says that she can help him, and that sounds like music to the ears of the man, as he grabs
the documents immediately.
After finishing the calculations, Lauren runs to Daniel to tell him the great news.
He says that it’s useless, because they have to be eighteen to place a bet, and even
if they had the money, they have to be eighteen to cross the border.
All hope is lost, but Lauren comes up with an amazing idea.
We see Lauren and Daniel at a horse race, and their bet ends up winning.
Julius has been the one helping them, and after winning, they go search for him.
He hands them the money, and tells them that it is enough for them to go to Venice.
Daniel takes the money, and tells him to bet it on number six, but they soon find out that
number six isn’t participating in the game.
Daniel looks at the computer charts and sees that they have made a mistake, and places
his bet on “Snow White”.
The game begins again, but this time, Daniel and Lauren end up losing.
Daniel is upset, but Lauren tries to cheer him up.
Julius comes to them, and apologizes for not betting the money on “Snow White”; turns
out he had bet on the winning horse, so Daniel and Lauren had the money to go to Venice.
They have told Julius that Lauren needs to see her sick mother in Venice, and they would
need him to come with them, because they can’t cross the border.
Daniel gets pissed off when he hears the news, because he had spent a lot of time calculating
the results, and Julius was able to win by a last-minute change.
Lauren tells him to cheer up, because if they hadn’t won they wouldn’t be able to go.
On the train ride there, Julius can’t seem to keep his mouth shut, and the kids get bored
of him.
He notices that, and lets the kids spend some time alone.
Daniel asks Lauren whether something’s wrong, and she says that she is worried about her
parents; they may think something’s wrong.
He says they know that she’s on a trip, so it wouldn’t be a problem.
Lauren says that she had forgotten to tell Natalie not to call, and fears that she will,
which will result in her parents finding out that she’s in Italy.
Daniel gets angry with her, and assumes that she wants to get caught.
At one of the stops, Lauren calls Natalie, and tells her that her mother had found out
everything.
Lauren tells her to say that she’s okay, and that she’s in Italy.
Daniel runs to her, and hangs up the phone for her.
He gets mad as to why she would tell them she’s in Italy, and she says she only did
that because Natalie had sounded worried.
They go back to the train, and don’t see Julius anywhere.
They look through the window and see him at the café.
Daniel goes after him and asks him to hurry, but the train ends up leaving.
Lauren gathers their things, and they jump off the train, leaving the money in Julius’s
vest on the train.
They hitch-hike a ride, and they seem to be in luck, because the driver and his wife are
headed to Verona, then Venice.
Back in Paris, the police are involved; they have an investigation for kidnapping, and
they have found some disturbing news.
They suspect that Julius has kidnapped them, because he has a criminal record; one of the
train members had found his jacket with the 18,000 franks in it, along with his personal
information.
The situation in Verona is good, as we can see Julius, Daniel, and Lauren enjoying dinner
with the pair that gave them a ride.
When the husband goes to pay, he discovers that his wallet has been stolen.
Julius saves the moment, decides to pay for dinner, and even gives some cash to the couple.
Daniel and Lauren get suspicious, but say nothing of it.
The next morning, when Julius reads his morning newspaper, he almost has a heart attack.
The couple has breakfast, and the husband notices a man reading a newspaper, that has
Lauren’s picture on it.
Julius notices them, and escapes quietly before they get a newspaper themselves.
Daniel and Lauren take a walk after seeing the house of Romeo and Juliet.
Julius finds them and shows the newspaper to their face.
He tells them that they have lied to him, and have made him a kidnapper.
Lauren says that they will explain to the police, but Julius tells her that they won’t
listen to her, because he is a criminal.
Daniel says that they have to escape before the police see them.
Julius says that the station will be watched, so they need to find another way to get out
of the city.
They see a bike marathon, and join it as it would bring the least attention to them.
They get far before Julius stops to catch his breath.
Lauren barely catches up to Daniel, and tells him that they need to go back to get Julius.
They go back and see him hiding down the stair in some alley.
They sit down to rest, and Daniel asks Julius what kind of criminal he is.
He says he is a pick-pocket.
Daniel asks him whether he had stolen the money from the couple, and he says that he
did it, because he had to get them to Venice.
He admits that they had lost the races, but he stole the money from the winner, because
he had thought Lauren’s mother was sick.
Julius says that they are all to blame, and there’s no need to point fingers.
Daniel asks whether they will go to Venice, and Julius says that Venice is out of the
question, because there are police everywhere.
Lauren admits the truth to Daniel, and says that she has to go back to America in two
weeks; she won’t be coming back.
She wanted to go to Venice, so that they can kiss under the bridge at sunset, and love
each other forever.
She admits she didn’t want to tell him, because she thought it was dumb, and now she
knows it is.
She realizes that Julius had lied to her about everything, even about Emilienne.
Julius says that he wanted to bring some romance into his life, so he had made the whole thing
up.
He tells the young couple they can make the fairytale come true, and make their promise
to love each other.
His words motivate Daniel, and he heads up the stairs; he stops and asks them whether
they’re coming with him, and the group heads on once more.
Daniel’s father comes to the station, and meets Lauren’s parents.
He says that when he finds Daniel, he will break his bones.
The police say that they have seen her and Julius in Verona, but suspect they have sneaked
out of town through the marathon that took place.
Her mother suspects that Julius is a pervert, but Richard says that the man had a history
of pick-pocketing, and is sure that Lauren had run away with Daniel.
The inspector comes and says that they have found Lauren, and are going to fly to Venice;
they ask Mr. George to come with them, and he agrees.
The couple that drove the group to Verona can be seen in Venice as well.
They get into a museum, where they are taken on a tour.
The wife hears snoring, and decides to follow the sound.
She pushes the curtain, and once she realizes it's Julius, she calls out for her husband.
Julius rushes and wakes the kids up, and they flee out of the museum.
They run off, but the couple seems close; they go to the police, but the group gets
the advantage, because the policemen don’t know English.
They run until they’re cornered by the police.
Julius takes them to a theatre, where they’ll have to stay until seven in the evening.
When the sun sets, they can have their kiss.
He tells them not to get out of the theatre before he comes to get them.
After sending them to the theatre, Julius sees the policemen coming to him, and decides
to introduce himself to them; that’s when the policemen arrest him.
They torture him at the station, but he tells them that he cannot tell them because he has
to wait until seven.
The kids seem to have fallen asleep, but they wake up in time, and rush to find a gondola.
After some searching, they finally come to one but they don’t have enough money.
They give him what they have, but he says that it isn’t enough.
They get up to leave, but the man calls out for them,, and says that he will give them
a ride.
They sit in the gondola and can’t wait for the bells.
Richard arrives at the station, and sees Julius in a bad state.
He shakes his hand, and asks for his daughter’s whereabouts, but Julius admits that he cannot
tell him.
He assures him that she is safe and well, but cannot reveal any more.
Even though chaos is happening, Lauren and Daniel seem to be enjoying their time.
The driver stops the Gondola before passing the bridge, and says that he is stopping because
they didn’t give him enough money.
The bells start ringing, and Daniel pushes the driver into the water.
They push the gondola, and before they get under the bridge, they sit down.
Their magical moment comes true; they kiss under the bridge, with the sunset in front
of them and the bells ringing.
Unfortunately, all great things come to an end, and we see Lauren ready to leave for
America.
She gets out and spots Daniel; her father lets her see him, and she runs to him immediately.
She hands him her address in Houston, and promises to write him.
Daniel says that he doesn’t want her to be like everybody else, but to be her true
self.
She smiles and promises that they will be exceptionally loving and true to each other.
They won’t ever forget each other, and what they went through.
Daniel tells her to call him Bogie, and Lauren finishes his sentence by saying, that Lauren
and Bogie belong together.
Both of them start to cry and hug each other tightly.
Lauren sees Julius, and goes to hug him before she runs back to the car.
The last thing Lauren sees is Daniel running after her car—waving and smiling at her.