Directed by: Sylvain Chomet
Staring: Gianni Di Gregorio and Alfonso Santagata
Based on a script written by Jacques Tati in 1956, Chomet’s hand-drawn animation tells the story of an ageing Parisien magician who leaves France to find work and ends up in Edinburgh. On his way north he acquires a young female companion from rural Scotland.
It is a semi-silent film with mumbled fragments of dialogue and one does have to adjust to the gentle, undemanding pace of the film but it more than rewards the patient viewer. The film functions chiefly as an elegy to the lost world of music-hall entertainment and viewers will be mesmerised by Chomet’s breathtaking animations. Described as a ‘love letter to Edinburgh’, we will soon associate Edinburgh with Chomet’s “beautiful and melancholy masterpiece”.