In 2003, “The Triplets of Belleville” was released in France,
“The Triplets of Belleville” is now the debut work of the top French animation director Sylvain Chomet.
It is this work full of crazy fantasy and black humor that established his current position in the French animation industry.
This fledgling work that has been nominated for multiple awards mainly tells the background of the impact of the industrial revolution.
The story of grandma Souza who survived hard and rescued the introverted grandson Champion from the American mafia.
On the way, grandma met Triplets of Belleville, which was once popular in the United States.
The plot of “The Triplets of Belleville” is simple, and the theme highlights the affection between Souza and Champion.
It is precisely under the simple plot that the movie’s peculiar narrative, painting, and expression are extremely eye-catching.
If you want to really understand this work, you need to know the background of the time when the details of the film are expressed.
There is a train passing in front of the protagonist Souza’s house, and the road makes their house slanted.
Moreover, according to the perspective lens, Souza and Champion live on the edge of the big city.
They cannot enjoy the convenience brought about by the industrial revolution.
As well as the Eiffel Tower model on the table, newspapers and many other details reveal that they live in France.
The obese goddess statues, dead pigs riding bicycles, and the use of “eliminated” people to illegally meet the needs of upper-class people, etc., all create an atmosphere of money worship.
The purpose of such a background setting is to create a depressive atmosphere,
Putting Souza and Champion in such an era and identity may resonate more, because not everyone enjoyed convenience at the beginning of the industrial revolution.
Most people still live in ordinary or poor lives, and it is more appropriate to express family affection in such an environment than in the upper class.
“The Triplets of Belleville” is a peculiar animated film, one of which is dialogue.
There are only a handful of clear and audible words of all characters in the whole movie. Dialogues are scarce, and most of the stories are expressed through pictures.
Many stories don’t know what they’re talking about if there is no dialogue, but in this film you can clearly tell the story’s ins and outs. This is a manifestation of the ability of the animation production team.
At the same time, because the plot of the film is simple, the dialogue does not play a big role in promoting the plot, and the production team simply drastically reduces the dialogue.
Although there is no dialogue, the details are still in place.
And because there is almost no dialogue in the middle of the film, a monologue at the end of the film grabs the audience’s attention firmly and echoes the beginning of the film. It will make people realize and move.
At the same time, there is no dialogue after the last monologue, and the film comes to an abrupt end and is intriguing.
Peculiar two
Hand-painted style and exaggerated modeling performance. “The Triplets of Belleville” does not conceal the relaxed lines and colors.
Following the laws of painting while relaxing the lines is a manifestation of the high ability of painting.
Because I was already comfortable with what I wanted to express, I dared to leave the seemingly loose lines without hesitation.
Internally rigorous and externally relaxed, it forms a kind of contrast with the depressive tone of the whole film.
This contrast will also give people a strange psychology. Exaggerated shapes can be seen everywhere in the film.
The rich are all painted obese,
The leg muscles of the cyclist are extremely exaggerated, the image of the mafia is square and square, and the setting of the character image is related to his character identity.
Money worship was prevalent at that time, and the obesity of the upper-class people reflected their financial ability;
The athlete’s leg strength is developed, so it is extremely exaggerated;
The mafia is ruthless, not sleek, and its exaggerated image fits the character’s identity and character, giving people a strong visual stimulation.
Invisibly strengthened the audience’s perception of the characters.
Third, the pictures are full of irony and humor.
Eat human shoes, use dogs as wheels, grandma Souza uses a small yacht to follow a big cruise ship across the ocean, a pig riding a bicycle…
Everywhere was satirizing the money worship of the entire society at that time. The picture looks weird but intriguing.
Fourth, clever montage techniques.
The film started with the performance of Triplets of Belleville, transitioning the screen to the TV screen through the performance of a group of artists, and then leading Souza and Champion who are watching TV.
The newspaper in the hands of the passengers is converted to the speech of the president of the country, and then the Tour de France is proposed to promote the development of the storyline…
The clever montage technique makes the film look smooth and imaginatively coherent, and enhances the audience’s perception of the film.
Although this animation already has such a remarkable place, the reason for its award is mostly its music.
A song of “Belleville Rendez-Vous” with cheerful lyrics and satire is impressive.
Although the tune of this song is very cheerful, the lyrics are full of worship of “Belleville”.
On the other hand, Triplets of Belleville, after being old and faint, no longer graceful, living in a simple house, only food for frogs in the ditch.
But they did not give up their pursuit of music. They no longer use “musical instruments” to perform. They use newspapers, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners. This is still a sweet song.
And they are willing to lend a helping hand when they are living in poverty, take in Souza and help Souza rescue Champion.
The movie as a whole has created a depressive, flashy, and extravagant social atmosphere.
However, the main characters are all virtues. They are not abandoning their family members, they are persistent in art, and their care and help for others. This movie is excellent in terms of theme exploration and performance ability.
Perhaps it is not suitable as a commercial film, but it leaves a lot of lessons for future generations in terms of artistic expression.
Observing the current animated films, there are indeed commercial successful works with profound themes, but there are few works with unique styles like “The Triplets of Belleville”.
The film was produced in 1994, and the end of the twentieth century was not a peaceful era.
Genocide, international disputes, trade issues, etc., people certainly look forward to a bright future, but the past cannot be forgotten.
Sylvain Chomet portrays a realistic “Belleville” in this film,
At the same time, it also depicts an ideal “Belleville”-extravagance and money worship are reality, persistence, pursuit, and mutual assistance are ideals.
Sylvain Chomet described his vision, conveyed this concept to the audience, and appealed to the world’s pursuit of beauty and peace.
And this is also an important purpose of film and television works.
