"Belleville Rendez-Vous" (2003)

Fig. 1 "Belleville Rendez-Vous" Poster

Absorbing the audience with its strange and unique art style, “Belleville Rendez-Vous“ or originally in French “Les Triplettes de Belleville“ is a French animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet.

The story involves Madame de Souza, an old lady who lives with her grandson, Champion who lost his parents. She is worried about Champion, as nothing seems to interest him. However, one day, she discovers Champion‘s secret passion: cycling. He has been hiding photos of the “Tour de France“ and of various cycling champions. She decides to surprise him with a bike and helps him training to become the future champion of the “Tour de France“. After several years of training Champion is finally ready for the bicycle race, however, unfortunately, they both become involved in an intrigue of the French Mafia when Champion is kidnapped and taken to an underground organization performing illegal betting games. Souz accompanied by her dog Bruno, they try to find and bring back Champion. On their seemingly hopeless journey they meet the musical “Triplets of Belleville“, three sisters who used to be a singing jazz sensation in Belleville. With their teamwork they manage to rescue Champion from the grasp of the French Mafia despite their age. 

Fig.2 Suza, Champion and dog Bruno

When Sylvain Chomet was asked in a BBC interview why he had made the film he answered: “I wanted to do things in animation that hadn't been done before. It's a very rigid medium in what people think it should be. It's always got to be for kids. It should bring good feelings, have bad guys and good guys, and end with a moral. But this means there are lots of subjects and things you can't show, like someone smoking a cigarette for example. With "Belleville", the aim was to go against that, and do something that wasn't aimed at kids.“ (Saxon Bullock, 2003)

“Belleville Rendez-Vous“ was an international co-production among several companies in France, UK, Belgium and Canada including Telefilm Canada, Les Armateurs, BBC Worldwide and Fonds Film in Vlaanderen. Chomet utilizes one of the traditional animation techniquesfor his film: cels accompanied with the use of CGI in scenes including moving cars, bicycles and boats. Apart from the CGI objects, the background and the characters are all hand drawn. Despite using CGI for parts of his project Chomet comments and argues that in his eyes CGI is plain and after a while not unique anymore compared to handdrawn animation: “A lot of studios are going back to it [handdrawn] after going down the CGI route. When you go from one CGI movie to another you realise it is quite plain, whereas hand-drawn animations can be whatever you want them to be. It's absolutely endless.“ (Gillian West 2014)

Fig. 3 The French Mafia

One of the most remarkable features is the art style Chomet chose for this film. Instead of crisp and clean lines mostly seen in popular animations, “Belleville Rendez-Vous“ focuses on a rather sketchy and artistic look, especially in its backgrounds. The colors feel dull and washed out, giving it a melancholic touch. In addition, rather than giving the characters a realistic or cute appearance, the film exaggerates their body features to create hideous but meaningful designs such as Champion who appears awfully thin to the bone, but has balloon-like, muscular legs or the two henchmen of the French Mafia who are visualized as an impenetrable, square-shouldered wall. Not a single character is portrayed as a perfect being highlighting the fact that even if you are imperfect you can still accomplish amazing goals just like how Madame de Souza managed to rescue her grandson from the allmighty Mafia with the help of the old trio of singers.

Fig. 4 Champion at the “Tour de France“

“Belleville Rendez-Vous“ manages to amaze its audience with its unique art style, mindful animation and deep core message that even packed with imperfections one can achieve anything including rescuing one‘s grandson from the deadly French Mafia as an old grandma. One would totally agree with Nik Huggins when he states: “The real joy of watching Belleville Rendezvous is derived from the details. Sylvain Chomet delivers a unique vision with a satirical edge that whilst always present, doesn’t detract too heavily from a delightful, ever popular, story of the underdog coming out on top.“ (Nik Huggins 2003) 

The film won several awards including the “Genie Award“ for “Best Motion Picture“, the “Boston Society of Film Critics Award“ for the “Best Foreign Language Film“ and the “César Award“ for “Best Music Written for a Film“, and was nominated for many others aswell including two Academy Awards: for “Best Animated Feature“ and for “Best Original Song“.

Bibliography:
Bullock, S. (2003). Sylvain Chomet: Belleville Rendez-Vous. (online) Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/08/27/sylvain_chomet_belleville_rendezvous_interview.shtml (Accessed on 01/03/2018)
West, G. (2014). Chomet the way to Springfield: Sylvian Chomet on turning The Simpsons French and the virtues of hand-drawn animation. (online) Available at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/05/15/chomet-way-springfield-sylvain-chomet-turning-simpsons-french-and-virtues-hand-drawn (Accessed on 01/03/2018)
Huggins, N. (2003). Belleville Rendez-Vous Review. (online) Available at: https://www.futuremovies.co.uk/reviews/belleville-rendez-vous/nik-huggins (Accessed on 01/03/2018)

Illustration List:
Fig 1. “Belleville Rendez-Vous“ Poster. At: https://images.store.hmv.com/app_/responsive/HMVStore/media/product/126975/01-126975.jpg?w=500 (Accessed on 01/03/2018)
Fig 2. Suza, Champion and dog Bruno. At: https://www.chapter.org/sites/default/files/production/banner/Belleville%20Rendezous%20Banner.jpg (Accessed on 01/03/2018)
Fig 3. The French Mafia. At: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ae/d1/66/aed16665720fe4c37855db5afd834833.jpg (Accessed on 01/03/2018)
Fig 4. Champion at the “Tour de France“. At: http://pics.filmaffinity.com/The_Triplets_of_Belleville-508681482-large.jpg (Accessed on 01/03/2018)