The English-language title of this lyrical French romance is The Little Mermaid. It isn't really the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, but instead the story of a teenaged girl (Laura Alexis) who is obsessively preoccupied with the Andersen story. Unable to separate fact from fancy, the girl begins envisioning a middle-aged garage mechanic (Philipe Leotard) as her "prince". Things take a dark turn when she offers to sacrifice everything-even her life-for the sake of her misguided love. Filmed in 1980, La Petite Sirene was released in the US five years later. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi