Sunday, April 16, 2006

Body Language Plus in Les Triplettes de Belleville
I recently had the opportunity to watch Les Triplettes de Belleville, an animated film written & directed by Sylvain Chomet. I watched it with my fourteen year-old son. Although the colors were subtle and there is almost no dialogue, it was able to hold his attention. We were both delighted by the unusual storyline and the remarkable depiction of the characters. Briefly the story is of a sad little boy, his grandmother, and their dog. The boy grows up to be a bicycle racer who is kidnapped in the middle of a race.

The incredible details of the body language of the characters spoke to us on so many different levels. I didn't know that the articulation of fingers could be so expressive or captivating. The fingers of the aged triplets (former singing stars) expressed such strange pleasure eating frogs in one scene, expertly played percussion in another & gave distinct disapproval whenever their belongings were touched. The block-shape of the villains and their block-like movements make them more than physically threatening. The shrinking and expanding of the loyal dog's body gave us instant recognition of his "thought" processes. We loved the exaggeration of body parts too: the huge calf & thigh muscles partnered with the thin torso of the bicyclist, the alcoholic noses, the extraordinarily long noses, the enormous derrières... even the set pieces took on personalities.

This is an extraordinary little film in which the animation relies on the unique body language of its characters more than most everything else to tell its story. And it does so very successfully. It's worth renting at your local dvd rental location or www.netflix.com.

Sydney

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