Belle and Sebastian/ Belle et Sébastien (2013); adventure family film review

French poster artwork for the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien.

Alpine Adventures by Linh

Belle and Sebastian/ Belle et Sébastien was originally a children’s novel by French actress, screenwriter and director Cécile Aubry. Her novel was adapted into a black and white live-action French television series in the 1960s, with the UK dubbing the series in English for the BBC. In the 1980s, the Japanese created an anime version for television. Aubry’s son Mehdi El Glaoui starred in the original French television series in the role of Sébastien and makes a cameo appearance in the 2013 film adaptation directed by Nicolas Vanier.
Vanier has an affinity with the panoramic beauty of Nature, its unpredictability and working with children and animals. His previous films The Last Trapper and Loup involved animals in the wild, young lead characters and stunning nature photography set in the mountains. It was a wonderful opportunity for Vanier to direct and adapt the classic novel and beloved television series, which consists of these elements. He even secured the assistance of Aubry’s son Mehdi El Glaoui to be part of the film project, where Medhi plays a lumberjack named André who offers advice to Sébastien. The small scene Medhi shared with the film’s young star Félix Bossuet, who plays Sébastien, appears like a passing of the baton from an early generation Sébastien to a contemporary counterpart.

CLOSE CONNECTION: Belle (Garfield) and Sébastien (Felix Bossuet) become best friends in the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien. Image: Radar Films, Gaumont.

Vanier’s film adaptation is an origin story set in the 1940s during World War II, and tells of how Sébastien met Belle, a white Pyrenean Mountain dog. He combines this story with one where the Nazis arrive in Sébastien’s village to capture French Resistance fighters, who help Jewish refugees to escape through the mountains into Switzerland. This second story enables a romance to blossom for a couple of the film’s characters and provides more opportunities to film the majestic mountains in the Haute Marienne-Vanoise valley of the Rhone-Alps region in France. Vanier aimed to introduce the story of Belle et Sébastien to a new generation of audiences without alienating audiences who watched the television series and read the book. The result is a family film with Disney-esque elements combined with the subtle touch of French nostalgic drama.

WATCHING WOLVES: Sébastien (Félix Bossuet), Belle (Garfield) and César (Tchéky Karyo) attempt to stop wolves killing their sheep in the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien. Image: Radar Films, Gaumont.

Belle et Sébastien opens with the six year old boy named Sébastien (Félix Bossuet) going hunting with his adopted grandfather César (Tchéky Karyo). The pair watch chamois on a nearby mountain and witness one of the females being shot dead. They do not see the shooter but hear the cries of the female chamois’s baby. César rescues the baby kid using ropes to lower Sébastien down the mountain side and carry the baby back up in his backpack. They take the kid home where César bottle feeds it and his sheep accepts it into its flock. Meanwhile, the menfolk from Sébastien’s village return from a hunting trip with one member injured from a cut leg. Apparently, there is a “wild beast” killing and stealing the villagers’ sheep and they suspect it is the wild dog formerly owned by a late villager. The dog was presumably tied up all day and night, beaten savagely by its owner and not fed for many days and weeks. The dog eventually escaped its cruel owner and hid in the mountains, possibly turning feral. Later, Sébastien meets Belle during another outing with César, but Belle runs away. A few more encounters between the pair results in a bond of friendship and trust, with Sébastien being certain Belle is not responsible for killing the villagers’ sheep.
 

FRIENDLY FLIRTING Peter (Andreas Pietschmann) flirts with Angélina (Margaux Chatelier) as he offers her a ride home in the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien. Image: Radar Films, Gaumont.

While the menfolk hunt the “wild beast”, Nazis arrive in the village to seek French Resistance members whom they suspect are secretly aiding Jewish refugees into Switzerland through the mountains. A French-German Lieutenant named Peter (Andreas Pietschmann) who is leading the search, falls in love with the village baker and César’s niece Angélina (Margaux Chatelier). However, she is interested in the village doctor named Guillaume (Dimitri Storoge) who is one of the resistance fighters helping Jewish refugees cross the border into Switzerland. As the winter arrives, the trek through the mountains becomes dangerous and the Nazis discover the secret passage used to help the Jewish refugees escape. Unfortunately, Guillaume injured his leg and Angélina offers to take his place, but unbeknownst to her, the Nazis have planned to intercept the group on Christmas night.

ACCESSING ASSISTANCE:Sébastien (Félix Bossuet) seeks medical assistance from doctor Guillaume (Dimitri Storoge) to save Belle's life in the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien. Image: Radar Films, Gaumont.

Belle et Sébastien is beautifully filmed and the spectacular aerial shots of the mountains, the valley and the river appear to make the French countryside and the mountains a character in the film. The splendid scenery during the winter, summer and spring assists in depicting some of the film’s themes including freedom, friendship and family. The wide, open spaces and vastness of the countryside and the towering mountains are metaphoric of the freedom Belle experiences after her turbulent life with a cruel owner and Sébastien is free to run and roam with Belle; and the freedom Jewish refugees gain in escaping the Nazis via secret passages through the mountains.
 

AGREEABLE ADVICE: Sébastien (Félix Bossuet) seeks advice from lumberjack André (Mehdi El Glaoui) to tame a wild dog like Belle in the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien. Image: Radar Films, Gaumont.

Friendship is a central theme in the film as the relationship between Belle and Sébastien grows stronger and this friendship circle is extended to include César, Guillaume and Angélina, who accept Belle as a family member. Sébastien also befriends the daughter of a Jewish refugee, who is his age, and she explains that America is not behind the mountains, but is overseas.

The theme of family is implicit but always present as Sébastien seeks his mother’s whereabouts. His adoptive family tell him that his mother is in America and will soon visit him but they eventually reveal the truth about his mother.

COMPATIBLE CHEMISTRY: Belle (Garfield) and Sébastien (Felix Bossuet) are friends who trust each other in the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien. Image: Radar Films, Gaumont.

The two lead characters are wonderfully cast and definitely the heart and soul of the film. According to an *interview with Vanier, he interviewed 2,400 boys for the role of Sébastien, and after 200 rounds of auditions, only fifteen boys were taken on location to screen-test with sled dogs on the Vercors Plateau in the French Alps. Young Félix Bossuet immediately stood out among the others for his strong yet fragile appearance and expression of innocence with some inner intensity. Auditions for Belle resulted in the employment of a dog named Garfield, and Vanier was prepared for the task of directing animals and children using steady tripod-mounted cameras placed on steep mountain slopes. Bossuet and Garfield have excellent and convincing chemistry onscreen, with Bossuet as the lonely boy who befriends and gains the trust of an abused dog, and Garfield as the gentle dog who learns to stop fearing humans and finds a friend in Sébastien.

Belle et Sébastien is a heart-warming and charming film adaptation of a beloved French book that will entertain children and adults with its glorious scenes of flora and fauna in their natural environment, wholesome family values and rustic beauty of the French countryside.

PLAYFUL PARTNERS: Belle (Garfield) and Sébastien (Felix Bossuet) frolick in the countryside near the mountains during Spring in the family adventure film Belle et Sébastien. Image: Radar Films, Gaumont.

Director: Nicolas Vanier

Writers: Cécile Aubry (novel), Nicolas Vanier (screenplay and dialogue), Juliette Sales (screenplay and dialogue), Fabien Suarez (screenplay and dialogue)
 
Cast: Félix Bossuet, Tchéky Karyo, Margaux Chatelier, Dimitri Storoge, Andreas Pietschmann, Urbain Cancelier, Mehdi El Glaoui, Jan Oliver Schroeder, Tom Sommerlatte
 
Producers: Matthieu Warter, Gilles Legrand, Frédéric Brillion, Clément Miserez

Cinematographer: Eric Guichard

Original Music Composer: Armand Amar
 
Film Editors: Stéphanie Pedelacq, Raphaele Urtin
 
Production: Sebastian Birchler (Production Designer), Daphné Deboaisne (Set Decorator)
 
Costume Designer: Adélaide Gosselin
 
Languages: French, German with English subtitles
 
Running Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
 
*Reference:
Buet, Christopher (2013). Belle et Sébastien : Nicolas Vanier et Mehdi nous présentent le film ! AlloCiné.fr
http://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=18629361.html (Accessed 22 March 2014)