The Triplets of Belleville - Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003)

"What have you got to say to Grandma?"

Director

Sylvain Chomet

Cast
Graziellia de Villa - Madam Souza

Noël Baye - Champion

There's no other way for me to start this post other than stating right away that this is one of the best animated movies I have ever seen. Among those "seen" movies I'm referring to, I'm thinking along the lines of some of Disney's early films that were clearly made for the sake of showing off the company's animation skills - "Fantasia" (1940), "Make Mine Music" (1946), "Melody Time" (1948), and "Sleeping Beauty" (1959). Those are impressively animated movies which, to me, stand above the rest of Disney movies as far as animation goes. 

I'm also referring to another impressively animated film, "Akira" (1988), from Japan. In my mind, "Akira" certainly sets a high animation standard. 

As I've mentioned before, back in my single and living alone days I used to pull random movies off the shelf at my local library so I could call myself cultured. I'd look for movies I was completely unfamiliar with. The French animated film "Les Triplettes de Belleville" was one such movie. I watched the U.S. version "The Triplets of Belleville" which I'm fairly certain is the same as the French version, but in English. Regardless, I was instantly enthralled with its story, atmosphere, style, animation, music, humor, and imagery.

You know, there have been a few instances (maybe more?) when I've watched a movie, and after a while completely forgot I ever watched it. Normally, my wife is the one who reminds me I've seen a forgotten movie before. If I happen to watch something my wife and I have seen before, something will click in the back of my mind prompting me to ask, "have we seen this before?" The answer is normally "yes." But the when, why, and where is forever lost in my memory even after my wife recalls those details.

In some cases, I'll faint recollections of actors or scenes will remain in the back of my mind like ghosts in a haunted house but everything else is gone. 

Such is the case with Elijah Wood's 2005 movie, "Everything is Illuminated." 

I remember watching it. I remember Wood's role, and some of the scenes. Yet, I had to look up Wood's filmography because I couldn't remember the storyline nor the title. 

Thankfully, "The Triplets of Belleville," a film by French animator and director, Sylvain Chomet, has remained completely unforgotten since I first found it at the library over 10 years ago. 

The film opens with the singing trio, Rose, Violette, and Blanche, in the height of their musical career. The animation in the opening scene is stylized like a Max Fleischer cartoon of the 1930s. Characters have rubbery contortions, wavy thin arms and wide-open eyes, (i.e. Betty Boop or Popeye). Overweight wives drag along their small, subjected, skinny husbands behind them. 

A Vaudeville-esque show opens with musical performances from the likes of Fred Astaire and Josephine Baker. Each one ends terribly.

The story shifts to somewhere in France where Madame Souza is raising her grandson, Champion. They're watching this opening segment as it airs on an old variety show on television.

Souza asks the young Champ "is it over?" Clearly bored and, perhaps, a bit depressed, he doesn't reply. Instead, he watches the next segment - a piano concert of Glenn Gould playing Bach.

The opening of "The Triplets of Belleville," animated in
the style of early cartoonist Max Fleischer.

Of course, Souza takes notice of Champ's potential interest in the piano music. She drags out an old piano and tries to raise his spirits and his interest by playing scales. Champ doesn't take the bait. 

Souza realizes that her grandson is suffering from loneliness. So, she gets him a dog named Bruno.

Though he does appreciate the dog, neither Bruno nor anything else his grandmother gives him to raise him up from the doldrums of loneliness seems to work. 

While making his bed one afternoon, she looks at all the pictures of bicycles and bicyclists he has taped to his bedroom wall. She also finds his scrapbook filled with cutouts of bicyclists and bicycles.

So, Souza gets him a tricycle. Champ is thrilled!

He now has a means to pursue his passion of bicycling.  

The story shifts to Champ as an adult. Souza helps her grandson train for the Tour de France.

She even fixes his bike wheel and bent spokes. 

During the Tour de France, Champ and a couple other bicyclists are kidnapped by mafia henchmen 

who take them across the ocean to the U.S. 

Realizing what has happened, Souza pursues them by renting a paddleboat and chasing the ship across the ocean. 

Once she's in America, in the City of Bellville, she has no money and no place to stay. But she's determined regardless to find her grandson.

While camping out under a bridge one night, trying to occupy her mind by making a small tune on Champ's bicycle wheel, the famous Triplets just so happen to stumble upon her small encampment and take her to their apartment for food and warmth. 

Impressed by her musical talent, they include her into their musical show. 

During a performance at a swanky night club, Souza recognizes the mobsters who kidnapped Champ.

With the help of the Triplets, she is able to follow them to Champ's location where he and other bicyclists are forced to bike in a simulated race for gambling purposes. 

Souza and the Triplets square up against an entire underground of thugs to rescue Champ.

"The Triplets of Belleville" accomplishes a lot with very little spoken word. 

The only speech in the movie comes through electronic means - the television, a record, a radio. Or, when Madame Souza speaks to her grandson while off screen. 

Charlie Chaplin did something similar with his movie, "Modern Times" (1936). Save for Chaplin's gibberish pantomime song in that film, the majority of speech comes through artificial means - a screen intercom, a radio, or an audio recording. 

An old rule of storytelling is to show rather than tell. This film follows the rule superbly leaving so much room for the pantomime to speak for itself. And what's more impressive is that the characters are likeable without having to talk.

The triplets themselves are certainly an odd trio, finding the means in ordinary objects to make music - a old refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner, and a newspaper. Each item is treated with respect. 

The city of Belleville is just as much a caricature as the characters themselves. It's a mix of New York City, Paris, Montral and Quebec City according to a 2003 article in the SF Gate. 

The rampant self-indulgence of the city is portrayed through the obesity of just about everyone in town. Even their "Statue of Liberty" is robust and portly. 

On top of that, the image of wine bottles is incorporated in most of the city's architecture. 

There's a running quip among some of the side characters taking on animal characteristics. A short maintenance guy whom Souza follows to the mafia thugs has protruding buck teeth and makes a squeaking noise when he breaths.

Some of the bicyclists have longer faces like a horse and make horse sounds when out of breath. 

One subtle jab shows a logo with a smiling cow's face that looks like a woman. 

And the diet of the sisters is frogs prepared in various forms, even as dessert. 

The sound and musical scores, particularly the use of Mozart's Mass in C Minor, are absolutely amazing and truly effective in establishing the atmosphere Chomet is animating. 

His animation is masterful as it steals the show. To me, the style is like Al Hirschfeld caricatures heavily mixed with French street art. The detail is entrancing. I could stare at these images for hours. The subtle innocent pokes at society, down to the characters eye movements, as well as the depiction of light and shadow is what makes the animation stand out among other animated movies. 

A lot of scenes possess so much that it takes several rewatches to see it all. This, mixed with the panning to show off each nuance and detail, is entrancing. 

Chomet's work is certainly not obscure. The film simply deserves more attention. 

He once animated a couch gag for the sitcom "The Simpsons" in 2014. The show even parodied "The Triplets of Belleville" in the episode "Angry Dad: The Movie" (season 22, episode 14). 

This is a fresh movie unlike any other animated film I've seen. The story is drips with originality. The care and devotion of Chomet, who was inspired by his own youth, is ever present in the work. 

The same is true for the film's pacing. Initially, I thought this would drag out. How wrong I was. 

At a run time of one hour and 21 minutes, the film accomplishes its goal without overstaying its welcome. The film's title song "Belleville Rendez-Vous" sung by French rock singer, Matthieu Chedid, known professionally as "M," left me with an ear worm. It's catchy! 
Chomet's film is a jewel of a film in the world of animation. It certainly sets an animation standard.

Funny Farm (1988)

"What's going on, Andy? You're sinking into a pit of self-pity, defeatism, and alcohol... and you're enjoying it!"

Director

George Roy Hill

Cast

Chevy Chase - Andy Farmer

Madolyn Smith - Elizabeth Farmer

Kevin O'Morrison - Sheriff Ledbetter
Alice Drummond - Ethel Dinges
Bill Fagerbakke - Lon Criterion
Nicholas Wyman - Dirk Criterion
Glenn Plummer - Mickey
Joseph Maher - Michael Sinclair


The movie "Funny Farm" is an eighties comedy that doesn't seem to be as nostalgically remembered as other comedies from the same decade.
That's a bit strange as the movie is one of comedian Chevy Chase's best. However, that's kind of understandable as it had some heavy competition upon its release back in June of 1988. 

"Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood," "Crocodile Dundee II," "Willow" and "Rambo III" came out in theaters the month before, just in time for summer. 

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" "Coming to America" and "Big" came out in June. And then "Die Hard" was released the following month. Stiff summer competition, indeed, leaving "Funny Farm" with all the qualifications to be a "cult classic."

I knew about "Funny Farm" for a long time. I remember seeing copies of it at my local video rental store back in the early 1990s. However, I've never seen it until now. Even so, I've been curious why it's not talked about like other comedies of the 1980s.

Chase plays sportswriter, Andy Farmer, who's leaving New York City and the paper business to move into the nice, quiet rural town of Redbud, Vermont with his wife, Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith).

He plans to embrace the small quiet atmosphere so he can focus on writing a novel. 

As soon as they move into their new country home, all the less-than-charming peculiarities of rural community life intrude on their expectations just as soon as they breath in the open country air. The local mailman is drunk by the time he reaches their home. They can't even enjoy the fresh air itself as there's buzzing, stinging bugs sharing that the same air. It only takes one annoying and intrusive hornet to destroy one's tranquility. 

Andy's publisher paid him in advance to write a novel, which he gets to work on right away once they're all moved in. 

Little does he know that Elizabeth, inspired by the open space, is also writing a story though she's not a writer. 

Andy manages to finish the first chapter and presents the manuscript to Elizabeth as a gift while they're on a romantic getaway at a nearby cabin. 

After reading it, her reaction is less than favorable. In fact, her thoughts are completely critical. It even brings her to tears. This critique pushes Andy into a despair which hurts their marriage. 

Later, his publisher drops in to see his manuscript after letters from the publishers informing Andy about his deadline go unanswered. 

Desperate not to lose his advance payment, Andy gives the publisher Elizabeth's manuscript, claiming it's his own.

Elizabeth gets a call days later from the publisher who loves the "children's book." Realizing what Andy had done, Elizabeth packs up and leaves the moping Andy, and wants a divorce. 

Chevy Chase and Madolyn Smith in "Funny Farm."

So, the dream of a quiet country life - a nice place to write a book - is now down the toilet for Andy. 

He and Elizabeth decide to sell the house. To make the process speedy and give potential homebuyers a good impression on the community, they ask Redbud residents during a town meeting to help by turning the entire town into a Norman Rockwell-esque community just in time for Christmas. Elizabeth even passes out old copies of the "Saturday Evening Post" with Rockwell images on the covers to give townspeople ideas on how to pull this off. 

In return, the Farmers offer to donate $15,000 to the entire town, plus $50 to each resident who helps. 

So, the town agrees. And when another couple take interest in their home, the whole town puts on the facade of a quiet, comfy hometown that only Norman Rockwell could love. And they really put themselves into the sham, even the drunk mailman. 

Lest I forget, as a "Ghostbusters" fanboy, I need to mention Elmer Bernstein composed the musical score for "Funny Farm." Bernstein also composed the score for "Ghostbusters." 

Also, actress Alice Drummond, who plays the librarian at the beginning of "Ghostbusters," plays Redbud's antique dealer, Ethel Dinges.

The "Funny Farm" plot seems like a mix of the 1975 Neil Simon movie "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" with Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft, with a slight tinge of the 1986 Tom Hanks and Shelley Long comedy "The Money Pit."

Like "The Prisoner of Second Avenue," this film sees the roles of the protagonists switched thanks to unwanted circumstances that fall in their lap. 

Andy Farmer is the writer who is unable to write a good book while his non-writing wife happens to write a children's novel that quickly gains the approval of Andy's publisher. All the while, the small hometown atmosphere is more problematic than they thought it would. It's similar to Jack Lemmon's character, Mel Edison, losing his job and having to perform house duties while his wife Edna (Anne Bancroft) ends up being the bread winner as she quickly finds gainful employment. Like Mel, Andy is left with his wandering thoughts and obsessions with his less-than-perfect environment. And living in New York City ends up driving him crazy. 

While the Farmers' new home in "Funny Farm" is a beautiful house that's certainly no money pit, it's similar to the film "The Money Pit" in that the couple are met with bizarre house-related obstacles such as finding a casket with human remains buried in the garden. But this scenario of let-downs and burdens extends outside of the house into their new community.

Once they have the casket exhumed and taken to the local cemetery for a proper burial, the Farmers are met with a huge funeral bill they refuse to pay. It leads to the body being put back in their garden. 

In another scene, Andy goes to fish in the pond near the house. However, he ends up catching a live snake that makes its way into the house. 

I love how the film utilizes imagery similar to Normal Rockwell's "Saturday Evening Post" covers. The only other movie I know of that does that is "The Sting" with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

"Funny Farm" makes a joke out of such small-town charm like that depicted in Rockwell's paintings. As the small town of Redbud ends up lacking such charm, the Farmers pay the residents to at least make it look like it possesses it. 

They even hand out old copies of the "Saturday Evening Post" as visual aids. 

The flow of the story is impressively well paced. The situation comes about naturally as all the plot points fall into place rather than being pushed. Neither the story nor humor feel forced or awkward. 

The comedy is a little more subtle than other comedies of the 1980s. Still, it's clear when it comes about. The story and humor work really well together. The plot lets the comedy work on its own.

Again, nothing feels forced. That's no surprise as director George Roy Hill has made some of the best films in movie history such as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) and "The Sting" (1973) - the latter being one of my top favorite films. "Funny Farm" certainly couldn't have a better director. 

On a side not, I had a dream a few weeks ago in which I couldn't remember the title of "The Sting." When I awoke, I had to think about it. What was that movie with Robert Redford and Paul Newman in which they play con artists, and the theme is a Scott Joplin tune? Weird, right?  

Anyways, Chase is perfect in this role. He taps into that all-American character I recognize when he plays Clark Griswald in the National Lampoon Vacation movies. Here, he adds a hint of his insult comedy he's well known for. He plays his part like a duck on a frozen pond. 

If I want to nit-pick, a small bit of the comedy is a tad slapsticky but not far-fetched. I'm referring namely to a scene in which Andy goes fishing in a local competition with three other locals. When a fishhook gets caught in neck of one of the fishermen, the three other teammates fumble around like the Marx Brothers trying to hold him down and get the hook out. The injured man yells at them to stop. Farmer tries punching him in an attempt to knock him out, but it's not working. So, he punches him a few more times. Then he grabs an oar and accidentally slaps one of the other guys. It's just mishap after mishap. What's hilarious, however, is that the guy he tried to punch as a rescue attempt hates him throughout the rest of the movie, resorting to strangling and punching each time they cross paths. 

My other nitpick is the film title. While Chase and Smith play characters with the last name "Farmer," the title seems like a stretch. It doesn't quite fit the premise, namely because the story doesn't take place on a farm. Farming has nothing to do with the plot. I understand the premise of going crazy, but the title makes the movie seem like it's sillier and cornier than it is. "Funny Farm" sounds more like an early working title that just didn't get change by the time of the film's release. But, again, that's easy to look over.   

"Funny Farm" is an odd-man-out comedy, and one of the best of such comedies I've seen. It's impressive how well the entire story comes together, and how naturally one thing leads to another. The final act with the Farmers paying the community to make Redbud the kind of town they wanted in the first place rings of originality. 

The film proves to be a small wonder that deserves appreciation though it doesn't seem to be the nostalgic flick other films of the decade are. If the label "cult classic" is a term of endearment, "Funny Farm" truly deserves the compliment.