I happened to stumble upon this brilliant, charming little film a few weeks ago [Official Site - Trailer]. Its all hand-drawn, very reminiscent of Disney's older stuff (101 Dalmations). But what makes it really stand out is the fact that there is no dialogue whatsoever in the film carrying/delivering the story. The story takes place in Europe in the 1950s and is about two paths that cross. The Illusionist (main character) is one of a dying breed of stage entertainers. With emerging rock stars stealing his thunder, he is forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theatres, at garden parties and in bars and cafés. Then, while performing in a remote village pub off the west coast of Scotland, he encounters Alice, an innocent young girl, who will change his life forever.
A script for it was originally written by French comedy genius and cinema legend Jacques Tati as a love letter (in 1956) to his estranged daughter, but never was produced. Sylvain Chomet, the Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed creator of The Triplets of Belleville, adapted the script and brought it to life in his distinctive hand-drawn animated style.
“What distinguishes Tati’s films is the way he uses sound to amplify or contradict the images we see on the screen, adding another layer of detail which both adds to the charm and structural complexity. Most tellingly, dialogue is used not to convey information to the audience, but rather as if it was just like any other form of background noise. It is this curious aural mosaic of background sound, music and image that defines Tati’s uniqueness and that was something we had to get right, too. We had to go through a lot of testing to see what worked and what didn’t within this virtually silent character medium. But the fact there’s no dialogue makes the audience try to understand the characters even more. Because it’s not laid out for them they have to invest further and that’s the true value of this type of animation.”
Chomet adds “The film ends with a piano concerto lasting eight minutes. We lose the sound effects while it plays so the music becomes the emotional conclusion. So it was of vital importance to me - and the movie. I edited the picture to that music so it would be carried emotionally. Because there is no dialogue in the film I used the music as the inner voice of The Illusionist character and his emotional heart. It wasn’t just music I was composing; it was an extra layer of feeling”.
-Frey
