Belleville Rendez-Vous

There are relatively few times when I’ve watched animation that the only initial response I can give upon seeing it is “What The Fuck?” Among the shows and movies I’ve seen that garnered that reaction are FLCL, Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie, and the first episode of Excel Saga. Well, now I can add something else to this list...The Triplets of Belleville.

I can say with absolute honesty that I have never seen anything quite like this movie. Where do I even begin? Okay, for one thing, the character designs are both ugly and intriguing. Not a single character could ever be remotely considered as “cute.” However, the designs are very artistic. I enjoyed the look of the bad guys in the film who are very tall and square and quite literally meld into one another when they stand right next to each other. I also liked the fact that when the setting changes place to the New York-esque Belleville, the people there are all very very fat (check out the fat Statue of Liberty).

Then there is the fact that there is virtually no real dialogue. A lot of french is spoken in the background, but most of it is of no real importance (they don’t even subtitle it). The only real lines of dialogue are at the beginning and end of the film and they are in English (despite the film being from France). Thus, the film tells its story almost completely through visuals. Like Interstella 5555, it does work very well.

Speaking of visuals, I must say that even though the character designs are strange, the animation is very well done. The scene with the ship and the pedal boat going across the ocean is stunning. The look of the film itself is decidedly vintage as well. All in all, it works.

The story, just like the rest of the film, is strange indeed. An old French woman’s grandson, a cyclist in the Tour de France, is kidnapped and shipped to America to unwillingly participate in a gambling ring for the French mafia. The grandmother follows the bad guys to America and enlists the help of three unusual old women (the triplets mentioned in the title) to rescue him. Despite that seemingly maudlin description, the movie plays out in unexpected ways. It is filled with strange bits of humor that are subtle (the dog and its relationship with trains) and sometimes gross (the triplets’ love of frogs as food). The chase that happens at the end of the film is unorthodox and very funny.

In the end, I guess I’ll say that I enjoyed the film. I’m not sure if it’s exactly a great film, but it’s definitely different. It’s rare to see anything truly original, but I can say this film certainly is.