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The
Triplets of Belleville
Sylvain Comet, France / Belgium / Canada, 2003
Rating: 4.0
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Posted: February 16,
2004
By
Laurence Station
French artist Sylvain Chomet pays tribute to everything from the
complicated slapstick set pieces of filmmaker Jacques Tati to the wordless
art form of professional mimes with The Triplets of Belleville, an
animated odyssey of striking visuals and wonderfully personalized
characterizations. The film follows the quest (reminiscent of the one in
Finding Nemo) of Madame Souza
and her obese pet dog Bruno to rescue her adopted grandson, Champion, from
the mafia. Champion, along with two other cyclists, has been kidnapped by
the mob while racing in the Tour de France and taken across the ocean to
the bizarre megalopolis of Belleville, where most citizens are obscenely
overweight and hamburgers are king. (Hmmm... which western country might
Belleville be meant to embody?) There, in a perverse
They Shoot Horses Don't They? contest of endurance, Champion and his
fellow riders are forced to ride stationary bikes in front of a projected
roadway while nefarious gangsters take bets on who will last longest. The chief
difference between that famous dance-contest film and Triplets,
however, is that in the latter, failure leads to an actual shooting --
complete with neighing horse sound effect.
This being a mostly dialogue-free affair, Chomet doesn't bother with
explaining the how or why behind the mob's actions. The real focus is the
interesting characters and situations Madame Souza and faithful dog Bruno
encounter as they attempt to save Champion. Foremost among these are the
titular triplets: Former music hall stars of the '30s who performed
alongside such luminaries as Django Reinhardt, Josephine Baker and Fred
Astaire (who has the misfortune of being devoured by his tap shoes), the
triplets (now living hand-to-mouth -- or hand-to-frog, if their dietary
tastes are any indication), readily agree to help Madame Souza rescue her
grandson.
Chomet's animation style is grotesquely exaggerated: Champion has
enormous thighs and calves (the boy obviously does a lot of pedaling);
ships and buildings are outrageously proportioned, towering to dramatic
vertical points; and facial features are unflatteringly stretched and
emphasized. But Chomet's consistency with this fantastical approach
grounds his imaginatively rendered world in a kind of uniform reality, and
the film's physics also stay in line with his gravity-defying world.
The Triplets of Belleville is a film that finds substance in its
style, be it the visual commentary of witnessing overweight bystanders
cheering athletic riders as they race by, or a city where too big is never
Too Big. Chomet never overstates his themes of detrimental excess or
creating art out of everyday objects (as when the triplets turn a
refrigerator, newspaper and vacuum into instruments). And though the
barebones plot and hasty resolution proves less than innovative, the
journey there is truly an engaging, eye-popping treat.
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