French Surrealism is a Thing (and a cool thing at that)

So, Im a bit late, but let's get this party started. Surrealist cinema is a genre of film that often takes what we are used to seeing in film and flipping it on its side. Instead of a very conscious story, these films often go into idea of the unconscious mind and creating a juxtaposition of pictures that act like the unconscious mind. The surrealist movement in cinema can link its origins back to Paris in the 1920s and is still found in French films to this day. Les Triplettes de Belleville and La Planète Sauvage both are great example of the French surrealism and how they use this genre of film to convey their message. 

Les Triplettes de Belleville is a beautifully done piece that emphasizes the over commercialization and consumption in the modern day world. In the beginning of the film, the grandma and grandson are both living in a little house in the countryside. However, as the years pass, the countryside is quickly swallowed up by tall sky scrapers and fast trains. Our modern day obsession with expansion and utilizing every piece of land is clearly seen with these first five minutes of the film. With the eiffel perched on the smoggy horizon, the viewer clearly gets the idea that this is a representation of modern day Paris. However, its worse on the other side of the pond. When the grandma has to travel across the sea to follow her kidnaped grandson, she comes to a place even more busy, more polluted, and more overpopulated: America. Again, the filmmakers don't try to hide the symbolism with their frames of the Statue of Liberty holding a cheeseburger in the harbor of the city. Pretty cool, right? While these parts of the film aren't as surreal, the way the film is presented is. The film is spent mostly with no dialogue. The only two pieces spoken were at the very beginning and at the very end. The rest of the film was spent using action and non verbals to get the point across. I feel that this is a very surreal experience, because its definitely something an audience is not used to, especially for that long of a movie. The audience isn't able to passively watch a film and simply listen to the dialogue, they have to become engaged with the film and anticipate every move the characters make to understand what is happening. Also, the issues addressed in the film are very relevant to its time frame. The film was created in the early 2000s, right when there was a lot of commercialization and consumption going on. There was a huge consumption of media (seen in how glued the viewers are to their TVs during the Tour de France) and food (people seem to be always eating in the film). The film reflects these habits that many had and tries to show how it needs to change. On top of the great story, the designs were really cool and quirky and the sound editing was amazing. 

The character designs were really cool. Not gunna lie.

EVERYONE IS SO FAT.

The big city with its over commercialization 

Fat Statue of Liberty with a cheeseburger. Im serious.

 The Triplets of Belleville, Before

And After

La Planète Sauvage is also a very surreal piece that again reflects the time period it was made in. Two races fight for survival, the humans aka Oms and the Draggs.  Each has their own biases toward the other that keeps them from peacefully coexisting on the planet. The two struggle for dominance on the planet and ultimate power as the superior race. Thankfully, the film doesn't end in the destruction of a race, and instead the two call a truce and learn to coexist on the planet. Now, on a superficial level, this film was pretty weird. From the crazy creatures and landscapes to the abrupt animation style, this film takes surrealism to a whole new level of unconscious thought. However, the film also has a point under all of its  oddness. The central theme was the struggle for power. When this film was created, the Cold War was in its height. The US and USSR were at odds against each other, each wanting power and to be the most powerful country in the world. Both felt that the end game had to be the defeat of the other and only one victor could stand. In the film, this mentality is proven to not be the solution. The two must learn to coexist and get along in the world for there to be peace. Violence for power isn't the answer, peace and equality is. 

That's all. Peace.