I walked into Cinema Arcades, behind our hotel, for a Cannes market screening of "The Illusionist" and saw the magically melancholy final act of Jacques Tati's career.
Tati of course was the tall Frenchman, bowing from the waist, pipe in mouth, often wearing a trench coat, pants too short, always the center of befuddlements.
If you've seen "Mr. Hulot's Holiday," you know who he was, and if you haven't, it belongs in your holding pattern.
Tati, who died in 1982, wrote the screenplay for this film, but never made it. He intended it for live action. His daughter Sophie Tatischeff still had the script, and handed it to Sylvain Chomet, who made the miraculously funny animated film "The Triplets of Belleville" (2003). He has drawn it with a lightness and beauty worthy of a older, sadder Miyazaki story. Animation suits it. Live action would overwhelm its fancy with realism.
The story involves a magician named Tatischeff who fails in one music hall after another, and ends up in Scotland, where at last he finds one fan: A young woman who idealizes him, moves in with him, tends to him, cooks and cleans, and would probably offer sex if he didn't abstemiously sleep on the couch. He's a good magician on a small scale, flawless at every trick except producing a rabbit from a hat. His problem there involves his frisky rabbit, which likes to sleep on Tatischeff's stomach at night. The rabbit makes it a practice during the act to pop up and peep around at inopportune moments.
Tatischeff finally ends up in Edinburgh, a city I think has never looked more bleak and beautiful in a film. Time has passed him by. Audiences prefer pop groups to aging magicians. He reaches the lowest stage in his career, performing in a shop window. He remains quiet, reflective, almost indifferent to the girl (although he buys her a pretty frock).If you recall the opening scenes of "Up," you know that animation is sometimes more effective than live action for conveying the arc of a life. This man does what he does very well, but there's no longer a purpose for him. Did Tati feel the same when he wrote this in the 1950s, before "Hulot" was a world wide success?
Important to the charm of "Illusionist" is the grace with which the character of Tatischeff has been drawn. He looks like Tati, but much more importantly, he has the inimitable body language. The polite formality, the deliberate movement, the hesitation, the diffidence. His world is an illusion, which he produces nightly from a hat.
"Definite Palme d'Or possibility," Toby Talbot told me. "Definite," Dan Talbot agreed. We'd all just come from the screening of the Official Competition selection "The Housemaid," by Sang-soo Im of South Korea. You hear predictions like that three times a day at Cannes. When it comes from the Talbots (above) it means something. Dan Talbot founded New Yorker Films in 1965; starting even earlier the Talbots ran the beloved New Yorker theater in New York, and if you've seen classics by Herzog, Fassbinder, Godard, Wadja and Bergman, chances are they came from New Yorker. They're been coming to Cannes longer than I have, and they have a feel for these things.
"The Housemaid" is extraordinary, further evidence that right now South Korea is producing many of the best films in the world. It takes place almost entirely within the huge modern house of a very rich man, and centers on the young woman he has hired as a nanny. It involves the man, his wife, his daughter, the older woman who runs his household, and the mothers of the wife and the nanny.This is a house where living is an expensive form of art. The couple are smooth, calm, sophisticated. They value themselves very highly. The nanny forms a bind with their 7-year-old daughter, and assists the wife during a pregnancy with twins. More than that I choose not to specify.
But look at the mastery of the film's construction. The nuanced performances. The implacable deliberation of the plot. The way the house acts as a hothouse to force the growth of anger. And the film's unforgiving portrait of people damaged by great wealth. This is a thriller about the ideas people have of themselves.
"Chatroom," an official selection in the Un certain Regard section, is a virtual thriller, so to speak, by Hideo Nakata. Set in the UK, by the director of "Ring" (1998), it's about a group that gathers in a chat room where the dynamics could lead to a suicide. The internet is suggested with an evocative set: A corridor crowded with people who may or may not enter various rooms (websites) along the way. In these rooms, their virtual relationships form. Then Nakata cuts to real life to observe where they lead. The film is ather frightening in the way it portrays some of the possible consequences of the online life.Here it is Friday and Cannes is still relatively quiet. Maybe the usual weekend crowds will appear, but they'll be tourists. What I notice is that some of the screenings have more empty seats than you'd expect, and the after-screening crowd at the press mailboxes doesn't seem as big as usual. It's probably too early to draw any conclusions, just as it's early to predict the Palme winner. But not too early to speculate.
Toby Talbot's fond and lively memories of a great art theater, The New Yorker Theater and Other Scenes from a Life at the Movies.
Hey Roger, have you had the chance to see "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" yet? Reactions seem to be somewhat mixed, but people who like it REALLY seem to like it.
Did Tati feel the same when he wrote this in the 1950s, before "Hulot" was a world wide success?
The real reason why Tati wrote, The Illusionist and why Chomet would prefer you not to know the great masters original intentions.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/jacques-tati-lost-film-family-illusionniste
Did you see Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and if so, are you saving your comment until it comes out in September?
"The Illusionist" seems like it could end up being the best animated film of the year. The trailer promises a lot. There's a certain nostalgic vibe to it, a vibe that's both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. On top of it all, the landscapes look beautiful. Thank you bringing my attention to it. I will be waiting for that one. I think "The Triplets of Belleville" is one of the best animated films of all time.
"The Housmaid" looks....clean.
I'm glad you're enjoying the films in Cannes. So far, the lineup seems very promising.
Roger, if you haven't seen the original version of The Housemaid, I can't recommend it enough. It was one of the first films restored by Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation. You can see it for free here.
THE HOUSEMAID has the feeling of a cult classic. I had a hunch from the early reviews that it was something special - both arthouse credit and mass appeal. The trailer confirms it.
The Chatroom sounds really interesting, but the clip is not too telling. Need to see a trailer.
Sounds like you're enjoying yourself. Get some sleep!
I suspect your spellchecker AI is attacking your prose. See the second graph under the Housemain screenshot.
*swoon*
Ahem...excuse me....
I would give so much to be able to see "The Illusionist" and "The Housemaid." I loved the work of Tati, especially "Playtime."
And "The Housemaid"...
I loved the original so much that I wrote about it on my blog. Have you seen it? You can actually see it completely free at this link:
http://mubi.com/films/2039?from_theauteurs=1
You need to have an Auteurs account, but it's free and takes about two seconds. It is available for free because it was restored by Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation. So you should check it out if you haven't already. That is, if you manage to find time between your blog....and twitter account....and watching the world's greatest movies at Cannes.....and writing your Great Movies reviews (nudge nudge, wink wink).
During Eberfest, I told David Bordwell that the prime of South Korean movies seemed to start going downhill this year. During last four months, I had to tolerate a string of horrible movies(I even gave zero star to one of them)and I began to have sucn a doubt. From your writing and others', It seems not yet, at least for now.
I'm curious if "The Illusionist" has minimal dialogue like "The Triplets of Belleville".
Also, do you remember which Pixar animated film it was that started with a very entertaining short about an illusionist and his bunny trick gone wrong.
I remember it being very funny. It's the opening scene of either "UP" or "Ratatouille".
Not to get off topic, Roger, but I finally slipped Tati into my Netflix queue a few months back, and was rewarded with what is quickly becoming one of my favorite films: Mon Oncle. Hulot's perfectly choreographed slapstick is something to marvel over, of course; but it's the poignancy in Tati's performance that keeps me coming back. Thanks, yet AGAIN, for turning me onto something new and unexpected.
Will The Housemaid see US distribution, I wonder? I'd like to see it.
It must be exciting to be there for you. I can't imagine how you keep up with Twitter and the Journal while you are there.
I love that you took the pic that you put on Twitpic of Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone. Do you do that often, and we just haven't seen them? Or, was that a unique moment?
to roger ebert -
there is a community of like-minded people out there who ignore ideological labels and who realize certain truths -
- our limited energy and time should be spent with those we love, and on creative activities;
- as we get older we need to discard the negative energy accumulated during our professional and personal struggles and to concentrate on improving the lives of those we love - forget changing the world - if we haven't done it by now, leave it to others;
- men who buy cloying, maudlin greeting cards may be capable of extreme violence;
- when things are really tough, that's when a sense of humour really shows its worth.
you will never know how many people have been given courage and a better life as a result of your chronicle of struggle. Must be thousands, at least. That satisfaction is as much reward as a great person gets (forget money). Camus showed us that a life lived this way is its own reward.
Sorry we have never met.
Thank you very much,
keenan lapierre
cklapierre@yahoo.ca
but full of love fo
Great report Roger, sounds like South Korean cinema is producing some unique work. By any chance did you check out Money Never Sleeps? Over the years you've been a big Oliver Stone fan and we never got a World Trade Center review from you for understandable reasons, but it would be interesting to get some of your initial thoughts on the new movie!
As a nouveau Korean movie fan (thanks mainly the reliable recommendations of Seongyong), Housemaid is definitely on the hit list, maybe Chatroom too. Madadayo (yesterday) was nice--must be nice to be rich and famous in the latter years, specially the former. The German professors advice to his student's grandchildren--working hard at something one loves and making a career out of it, is so apt. As you said, Madadayo.
The protagonists of Madadayo and Ikiru are the same.
Jacques Tati gets his own animation makeover. What a fascinating idea. I really can't wait to see this one.
Longtime reader, first time poster.
Between Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Sylvain Chomet you'll find most of my French cinematic viewings, which is to say not many films, but fantastic all the same.
The Illusionist and Micmacs are very near the top of my desired viewing, but being located in Wisconsin, great as it may be, means I'm unlikely to get a chance to see them until they appear on Netflix.
As the owner of a little white bunny, I feel a certain affection to the film above and beyond its other amazing qualities. I could never let mine sleep my belly, though, or my shirt and blankets would be full of holes!
Housemaid had a ten-fifteen minute standing ovation at the 10:30 show last night. You know... the kind of ovation where you go along with it for a few minutes and then start to think "Okay, it was really good, but I can't commit the next hour to standing here clapping if this persists."
I get the feeling that, in that circumstance, most people keep applauding because they don't want to be seen stopping when everyone else continues. Like how in Exterminating Angel, nobody wants to be the first to leave the dinner party.
I'm already sold on The Illusionist because of Chomet, one of the few guys out there sticking to hand-drawn animation and doing it beautifully. The Housemaid sounds like a film that everyone is excited about. But I'm curious about Chatroom - I like the setup. I don't know how you could carry that off for an entire film, but it sounds interesting. Sometimes I wish the better directors would make short films more often. A really well-constructed short film, like a short story, is its own kind of pleasure.
As a fan of animation in general and "The Triplets of Belleville" in particular, I have high hopes for "The Illusionist". The trailer is outstanding, the craftsmanship on display is almost without equal (Miyazaki would be the only contender I'd say), and basically everything about it looks completely exceptional. I was wondering if you would see it at Cannes and write about and sure enough you did! This makes me quite happy! It sounds like you liked it and so my expectations are mounting even higher - I can't WAIT to see this movie!
Roger, I cannot wait for the Illusionist. Your review has me jumping for joy, I just hope it gets the screens to show it to a wider audience than just the typical L.A., New York ones. Thank you for that. Hope you are having a wonderful time at the festival. Your blog on the La Dolce Vita festival and the fact that the festival has changed so much had me in tears. I miss those days of spectacular movies and great directors too.
This post has nothing to do with the films at Cannes, which I desperately want to see, but I'm stuck at home. I just think you should look into a film called "All My Friends Are Funeral Singers".
I'm not asking you to review it, or even watch it for that matter. But if it looks interesting than, you know, see it. Here's the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1524148/
And it's already on DVD, though I doubt you could find it at stores, so Amazon would just take care of the rest. Or you could find a way to rent it, if you don't like it and don't want it.
On your Cannes post though, I think out of all of those, besides "The Illusionist" because I would see just about any animated film, I would like to see "Chatroom". Just seems like a movie that has a lot allegories pieced together.
This post has nothing to do with the films at Cannes, which I desperately want to see, but I'm stuck at home. I just think you should look into a film called "All My Friends Are Funeral Singers".
I'm not asking you to review it, or even watch it for that matter. But if it looks interesting than, you know, see it. Here's the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1524148/
And it's already on DVD, though I doubt you could find it at stores, so Amazon would just take care of the rest. Or you could find a way to rent it, if you don't like it and don't want it.
On your Cannes post though, I think out of all of those, besides "The Illusionist" because I would see just about any animated film, I would like to see "Chatroom". Just seems like a movie that has a lot allegories pieced together.
Chatroom fascinates me most. I had a very similar visual idea when I was about 15. I think most 15 year olds had a similar imagining of what chatrooms would look like if there were real people walking into real rooms. I wonder if the script is older because chatrooms are now Internet novelties.
Tweet: Hands down winner of of Best Film Title at Cannes:The Big Tits Zombies,in 3D--Deadly DD Cups.
Just viewed the trailer for "Big Tits Zombies."
A bit confused. Title card states film produced by Snobbish International Pictures. IMDb indicates no such company exists. No mention of 3D. More perplexing, not a single frame, featuring any of the various female stars, shows anything approaching DD cup parameters. Possibly there has been something here that has in deed been lost in translation. Who knows?
The film does display range in its various characterizations-- everything from samurai and geisha zombies to ping pong playing zombies. These images did evoke numerous cineastic ruminations, ranging from Kurosawa to Jack Cardiff to Christopher Walken's dastardly Mr. Feng. Now my hands down favorite is the pulsating pink and whitish blobs known as sushi zombies. Yet I again remain somewhat vexed. My question--if you see the movie--what form of locomotion is utilized by the aforementioned reanimated fish chunks when in attack mode?
Ebert: I did see an ad for the movie mentioning 3D.
Hey Wael -That short was actually attached to Wall-E, and it's called (checking my DVD box) "Presto". It is actually quite reminiscent, but more from the pov of the rabbit than I expect "The Illusionist" will be. ;) The beginning of Presto is available on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0v09U30eE
If it's not one movie, it's another: Just finished showing Departures to my wife. We dutifully cried continuously. (Ebertfest attendees will remember this extremely moist shared experience.) And then I wandered over here, followed the Tati's Shame link, and there is yet another abandoned child. As I always tell my students just before comparing something we're talking about to a film I've seen, "Everything's a movie."
Hi Roger, (terribly familiar, I know, but your columns, reviews and commentaries have been such a presence in my life as a movie-lover, I feel an albeit pseudo-kinship)
On Tati: What a miraculous man! I think it hasn't been pointed out often enough, but he was the first physical comedian in the cinema to give the world the humor of the TALL man. Before Tati, you had Chaplin, Keaton, The Marx Brothers, Norman Wisdom...have your pick. Tati showed the world *our* problems. Admittedly, I'm 6'3" and a bit awkward and when I first saw Mon Oncle, I fairly swooned. My 2 year old daughter adores Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (The bit with the bearskin rug is a particular hit.) And though ensconced in Munich, I shall endeavor to see The Illusionist* As soon as possible!
Yrs,
David
* Interestingly, one of my favorite recent films was also titled The Illusionist. Starred Paul Giamatti & Edward Norton and was a small jewel of a short story. All the best!
Do they have people selling BBQ outside the Cannes theatres, like they did at your festival? That will help fill up those empty seats tout de suite.
I am very much anticipating The Illusionist which will have a region 1 DVD release next year. Also if you are interested Roger, Chomet's short film from 1998, La Vieille Dame Et Les Pigeons, is available on Youtube:
Part 1;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srODm62kBAw
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJgcHuQseLc&feature=related
Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ku3hNxM5S4&feature=related
I think this latest film by Chomet looks like his most visually appealing by far. His caricatures was rather harsh in Belleville and the color palette contained far too many dark browns and yellows; Of course this didn't hinder my enjoyment of the film.
Thank you, lizvelrene.
"it's the opening of either 'UP' or 'Ratatouille'." I feel stupid now knowing it was attached to the one in between.
You say that the "The Illusionist" is drawn. It certainly looks that way, as opposed to computer rendition. If it is hand drawn stills, it's mighty impressive, because I have the impression from Matt Groening's commentaries on The Simpsons that it is nearly a lost art. It would be interesting to know what he thinks of "The Illusionist." Maybe you can ask him at the Webbie Awards. I'd also like to know if he looks a little sheepish after having Homer make that "Big fat tub of lard." comment years ago. Just for fun, you could ask him about that also.
: )
I think what is attracting me to "The Illusionist" is not only that it is not a Hollywood movie, or that it is hand drawn, but that the story itself is, at least to me, fascinating and possibly enchanting. It is not a standard Hollywood script by any means but is more in line with what was produced in Europe during the time when it was written. You have your main character, and while he is the center of attention, he is not going to be the hero, he is not going to win the girl but rather discovers something about himself despite the circumstances around him. He knows he cannot have the girl, and yet treats her with respect and love in a truly gallant fashion. Unlike what American movies would have you think, the world does not always have a happy ending but that even bittersweet finales can still hold sway.
As Mr. Tati's final curtain call, it will hopefully find itself an audience that can appreciate the story and the characters. And perhaps when Oscar time rolls around, the film will be recognized in more than one fashion.
The Tati’s Illusionist is not traditionally hand drawn as it is claimed in the Disney golden era sense, all colouring, environment, lighting effects are digital and all vehicles as in Chomet’s previous movie Triplets are in fact 3d computer generated and shaded to look hand drawn. What is initially hand drawn is the majority of character animation but like everything else this is also digitally coloured and lit.
The Illusionist has had a very low key showing at Cannes if it was only shown at the Cinema Arcades which is one of the smallest more obscure venues of the festival.
Before getting carried away with awards and the like I would first look at the reason why Jacques Tati originally wrote and never made the script of The Illusionist. Spitefully, it seems, Chomet has chosen to conveniently drop its true meaning that lay behind the comic masters original writing that was intended as a solemn apology to his eldest daughter, Helga Marie-Jeanne who he had abandoned during the Second World War.
Winning an Oscar, lets hope just on moral grounds alone the Academy would not touch this.
Then again if the movie industry can have a petition to save Polanski then one can't hold on to much faith that corrupt business would have a conscience for a betrayed child.
I just love these reports, Roger. Ol' Ebert, he sure knows how to pick 'em.
The Triplets of Belleville was not miraculously funny, but horrendously misanthropic. How could we sympathize with the characters when the film reduces them to such caricatures of human beings, even into animals? The film makes the son into a horse, so dumb and vacant that when he is kidnapped and held prisoner, he is completely unaware of his surroundings. Doesn't this bother anyone else?
Sometimes I feel the French must have no concept of creepy.
Raymond:
I think the sympathy was suppose to be for Champion's grandmother and her dog The son really was plot device; I guess you can say he was soft of a MacGuffin ? Also I don't think he was ENTIRELY unaware of his surroundings though it's hard to feel any emotion from him.
However to address your first criticism, sometimes cartoonists can escape with being misanthropic. Robert Mckimson is another example of a cartoonist who had a rather cynical view of humanity. Just look at way he drew Bugs Bunny has opposed to other directors at Warners. Bugs had huge jowls, his body was bulky, he seemed rather slow witted at times , and pretty much irrationally terrorized the United States in Rebel Rabbit. Mckimson also created Foghorn Leghorn and of course, he had the same traits but amplified. Porky Pig seemed rather violent and angry as well in some of his cartoons too; He was going to cut off his own dog's head by the end of Daffy Duck Hunt. So yes, such cynicism towards humanity can work in cartoons as long as they look a bit more appealing to the eye.
"Cynicism towards humanity", astute description considering the production back story of The Illusionist. Interestingly Tati is seen largely as one of the most humane film directors of all time yet Chomet's style to date has been very dark and somewhat sinister focusing more on the ugly aspects of human existence.
George on May 16, 2010 10:32 PM
Thanks for your info about how the animation was done. If the entire film is as well-crafted as that still, it is fabulous work!
Roger, did you ever ask why such an iconic symbol of French Cinema was not given the red carpet treatment at this years Cannes? Or why all publicity material that accommodate the movie does not mention Tati's eldest daughter, the true inspiration behind his script?
Don't let your quest to eradicate the world of 3D blind you from distinguishing true masters of cinema art from malicious imitators.
Remember Tati dreamed of the day that the audiences of Playtime would move seamlessly from watching the large projected screen back into the real world outside using the tagline, “We are all in Playtime”. If Tati was alive today would he not be embracing the latest immersive 3D technologies? He certainly was not a nostalgic movie maker like Chomet’s adaptation of his The Illusionist would lead you to believe.
Entertainingly don’t forget when you inevitably buy the Blue-Ray of The Illusionist it will probably come with a limited edition pair of specs as a gift for helping to fund the Sony 3d TV revolution that you so question and which your latest purchase will have been predictably converted to.
Now that is a reflection of consumerism that Tati so masterfully once satirized.
Ebert: Turns out I wasn't even supposed to be at that trade screening of "Illusionist." It's an autumn release that will officially be premiered at Toronto and Venice.
Officially premiered in Toronto and Venice, do the February Berlinale and June Edinburgh Film Festival not count or that The Illusionist will be on general release in France from the 16th June 2010?
I must confess to having stopped reading about The Illusionist at the point where you wrote, "The story involves a magician". It's a film I'd like to know as little as possible about beforehand; even watching the trailer is out of the question! (I'll return to read the rest of your report after I've watched the film.) That way everything will be a surprise — except the fact that it's from Sylvain Chomet, which is the reason I want to see it. Les Triplettes de Belleville is unlikely ever to be dispatched from my all-time top 20 animated films. I feel safe in calling it a work of art.
Following up on my previous comment: The Illusionist was shown at the Galway Film Fleadh yesterday, and I didn't think twice about booking a couple of tickets even though it coincided with the World Cup semifinal.
It was a marvellous film, similar in some ways to Belleville but less hectic, more intimate and poignant. I described it elsewhere* as a watercolour brought slowly and magically to life; the outdoor scenery in particular led to long moments of not wanting to blink, and the shifts in tone from slapstick charm to melancholy were effortless.
I love your description of Tatischeff ("The polite formality, the deliberate movement, the hesitation, the diffidence"). He and most of the other characters border on caricature, but they are all drawn with great care and love, and they look at home, even when unsettled, in an uncannily realised Edinburgh.
* Okay: Twitter.
Hello Roger,
I just saw "The Illusionist" on Saturday night at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. What a beautiful, sad, insightful film. I loved how it was essentially a silent film, with little spoken dialogue; the little dialogue there was in it was basically incoherent mumbling. So the story was told with (stunning) images and looks, expressions, and body language. Perfect.
I think the last picture in this article is from 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' (a Thai Film) rather than 'Chatroom'.
I just saw "The Illusionist" on Saturday night at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
I think the last picture in this article is from 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives'
Cordialement,
best
Jeu de combat