"The Triplets of Belleville" REVIEW

   "The Triplets of Belleville" is French surrealistic animation film also made as a "film noir" where brilliant music acts as the main language, it is almost mute after all.

   "The Triplets of Belleville" tells us a story of the adventures of Madame Souza, her grandson Champion and a dog named Bruno. Champion was fond of bicycles and seeing how he wanted to cycle, his grandmother presents him with a bicycle. At the same time she start to raise Champion as a real champion. After that we can already see Champion as an adult and Madame Souza as his personal trainer, preparing him for the "Tour de France".

Figure 1. A bicycle for future champion (2012)

   However, at this race, everything goes awry: Champion falls into the hands of Mafia, who take him overseas for bicycle slavery. And, naturally, his grandmother and his dog go after them to rescue their champion.

   One can say that the plot here in not very important, because the main thing in this animated film are all the details, which develops a special mood. "Despite its simple story The Triplets of Belleville is an unending source of visual wonders and delights".(Devin D. O'Leary, 2004) Every frame is very soulful and filled with spirit. You feel the need to put this film on pause, take a magnifying glass and look at all the smallest details in it.

As said before all characters of "The Triplets of Belleville" practically do not say anything. It is silent movie to music, speech here is foreign, unnecessary. All these characters are living caricatures. There are old tall women who every night arranges unusual concert in the restaurant where one is playing on the fridge, the other on the vacuum cleaner, and the third rhythmically crumples newspaper near the microphone. There are stereotypically fat Americans. Double jointed waiter with eyes of an eagle.(see fig.2) Square Mafiosi that merge together to form a rectangle. Literally, every single character of this film is painted very carefully, detailed and with love.

Figure 2. Americans and waiter (2017)

   "The Triplets of Belleville" is an animated satire with grassroots (mundane) humour. In the overseas capital you can easily recognize New York, and in the obese sculpture - the Statue of Liberty.(see fig.3) The director of this film tape Sylvain Chomet constructs incredible designs from ordinary objects: a bicycle-gramophone, a lawn-mower-massager, a dog-tire, etc. Sylvain Chomet(2003) himself says that "I am really interested in is drawing caricature, how far you can push it, seeing if you can achieve something really strong, almost abstract[...]"

Figure 3. The Statue of Liberty (2012)

   However because this movie is very rich of everything:  with all different storylines, an abundance of characters, changing genres, it becomes very difficult and tiresome to perceive it. "The Triplets of Belleville" holds only on beautiful visuals and brilliant music. This can bore some viewers.
   "The Triplets of Belleville" is a soulful nostalgia for the past times, "Its style evokes a postwar France"(Anthony Oliver Scott, 2003)  and a must-see movie for any fan of animation.

Bibliography:
1. O'Leary, D. D. (2004) THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE This wordless wonder is a weird, witty winner. At: https://alibi.com/film/7144/The-Triplets-of-Belleville.html (Accessed on 1 March 2018) 
2. Chomet, S. (2003) [Interview face to face, 20th November 2003]
3. Scott, A. O. (2003) FILM REVIEW; Nostalgia For a Land That Twirls In Dreams.  At: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E04E1DA1F3BF935A15752C1A9659C8B63 (Accessed on 1 March 2018) 

Illustrations:
1. Figure 1. Munoz, M. (2012)[Film Still] http://www.abc.es/20120710/deportes/abci-deportes-celuloide-201207061253.html, accessed on 1 March 2018.
3. Figure 2. Beaver, N. (2017)[Film Still] https://blunderbuss.club/2017/05/18/triplets-of-belleville/, accessed on 1 March 2018.
2. Figure 3. (2012)[Film Still] http://robydickfilms.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/les-triplettes-de-belleville.html, accessed on 1 March 2018.