The Illusionist

Pacia Linde: powerpoint creation, issues addressed, discussion questions

Marquese Brown: issues addressed

Karina Carrillo

The Illusionist, 2010 A French animated film by Sylvain Chomet. The original script was written by Jacques Tati, a popular comedian known for his mime, in the late 1950s.

The script was given to Chomet by Tati’s daughter, Sophie, who believed that, after seeing Chomet’s earlier film, The Triplets of Belleville, the animated process that Chomet went through could give life to her father’s script.

The film is largely hand drawn with some additional computer animation.

Plot The film centers around an aging illusionist, Tatischeff, who travels around Europe with his act. He is constantly at odds with the modern world and popular culture that surrounds him. While in Scotland, he meets a young maid named Alice. She believes in the magic and decides to follow him around Europe. The majority of the film takes place in Edinburgh, where Tatischeff and Alice settle in a hotel.

Plot, continued While in Edinburgh Tatischeff realizes that Alice is starting to grow up. He sees her admiring shoes and clothing and takes other jobs he is not equipped for as a way to support her. It is then that Alice meets a young man who she begins to go out with. The illusionist sees them and decides to leave, realizing that his role in her life is over. He takes a train out of Edinburgh and leaves a note for Alice that says, “Magicians do not exist.”

The Originator: Jacques Tati

The script was originally written by Jacques Tati, a French physical comedian in the late 1950s.

Tati was known for his physical comedy. His best known films, including M. Hulot’s Holiday and Mon Oncle, contain little dialogue and rely on the subtle interactions of beings within space. They are at alternate times hilarious, touching, and somber portraits of humanity within an evermore isolated and modern world.

Chomet wanted to follow the format of a Tati film in which the characters are going about their daily lives, the comedy of which is then created from exacerbated scenes of daily life. This can be seen in the format of the animated film.

Issues Addressed: How does it end? The film ends ambiguously with the Illusionist and the girl, Alice, parting ways. As such, there are issues that come to the forefront of the film, such as the isolation of modernity, issues of growing up and adolescence, and parental and otherwise dependent relationships. These are the themes that are covered in the following slides.

Isolation of Modernity This is a theme that can be seen due to the profession of the Illusionist and his role within society. His type of entertainment has been replaced by the popular culture interests in pop music (as shown by the band, The Britons and the jukebox being installed in a Scottish tavern as he is doing a show.

We see this in the figures of other performers that people the film (a ventriloquist and a clown for example). They are morose and sympathetic characters who have been forgotten by the world around them (the clown almost commits suicide at one point and the ventriloquist must sell his dummy to a pawn shop for income).

Isolation continued The sense of isolation is heightened by a lack of

dialogue. There is a sense that no one can communicate their needs and desires effectively to one another. They are alone and without support.

Sylvain Chomet (the director) was quoted as saying “I’m very surprised when people think that not using dialogue must be difficult. It’s funny that people don’t remember that at the beginning of cinema, there was no dialogue… [when there is no dialogue] You don’t just focus on the mouth of a character. You start to see the picture, and the picture is bigger.”

A lack of dialogue can also be seen as an homage to Tati, whose films contained little to no dialogue, interested more in the ways in which people interacted with one another and the space around them.

In this isolated milieu, the relationship between Alice and the Illusionist becomes all the more poignant.

Adolescence

The theme of adolescence is one that is addressed within the film. It is something that everyone goes through and thus gives the film a more emotional tone. Alice desires all these new clothes and a new way of life and it influences the life she has with Tatischeff.

When they meet, Alice is a young girl who believes that the illusionists magic is real. As the film progresses, the audience sees her longing for a mature existence (through the scenes where she stares longingly at clothing).

We can all understand and associate with this theme and it gives the film a

more emotional side.

Parental/ dependent relationships

There are multiple interpretations of this film. Some say that Tati wrote the original script for an illegitimate child, others say that it was written for his daughter. Either way, the audience understands that the dependent bond is a primary theme in the film. The relationship between Alice and the Illusionist is key to understanding the film. They rely on one another and care deeply about each other. Because of this, the ending of the film is made more tragic.

Video clips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmsukmz3QQE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d7OeDwkfTg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RmABh8MCpE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ868onS6YY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSgNZ6R5Rbg