Into The Woods (2014); musical fantasy film review

French poster artwork for the musical fantasy film Into The Woods.

Musical Morals by Linh

Into The Woods from Walt Disney Studios is a film adaptation of the stage musical and is fairly faithful to its original source. The film underwent numerous changes to comply with Disney’s family-friendly policy, yet the alterations make very little difference to the overall tone, structure and narrative of the characterisations, story or plot. Most fans of the stage musical may be forgiving and appreciate that the changes were made for cinematic and creative reasons with most of the material faithfully adapted to the screen. The stage musical’s playwright and librettist James Lapine wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation so the core elements of Into The Woods are retained.

The film is a mix of several fairy tales that include Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood, where the main characters of the different fairy tales meet and interact with each other in the dark and foreboding woods. The film’s narrative is a bit complex as plenty of action takes place almost simultaneously between different characters while in different parts of the woods, with the plot of the different fairy tales interwoven and cleverly blended with songs and music. There are plot twists where many of the fairy tale characters do not end up living "happily ever after". As a way to make it easier for audiences to follow the story, a narrator intermittently guides the viewer throughout the film. The voice-over narrator is the Baker in the film, whereas the stage musical had a male narrator, whom the other characters sacrifice to the Giant instead of sacrificing Jack. This alteration may be due to Disney Studios reducing the number of deaths in the film as well as giving the Baker a way to foreshadow the events. 

The film depicts most of the morals, ethics and values from the fairy tales yet these life lessons are often over-shadowed by the cinematic aesthetics of the film such as the scenery or the costumes and props. The music and lyrics of the songs assist in depicting the characters’ moral dilemmas as some characters reflect on their decisions or actions. Most importantly, Into The Woods depicts the consequences of the characters’ decisions and actions in the second act, and some of the characters receive their comeuppance (often death) as punishment. Besides moral and ethical issues and consequences, the film also attracts discussions such as Freudian symbols and feminist commentary.

The film begins with the Baker’s voiceover narration providing the exposition with the word’s “Once upon a time…” as the characters voice their wishes in song, which acts as the film’s introduction to the characters and their situations. Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) wishes to attend the King’s festival, Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) wishes his cow named Milky-White (Tug) would give milk, Jack’s mother (Tracey Ullman) wishes for wealth and a better standard of living, Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) wishes for bread and biscuits to give to her grandma (Annette Crosbie), and the Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) wish for a child. 

As Jack’s mother sends him off to market to sell Milky-White, Cinderella is scrambling about as fast as she could to get her step-sisters Florinda (Tammy Blanchard) and Lucinda (Lucy Punch) ready for the King’s festival while they and her step-mother (Christine Baranski) tease her about wanting to also attend the festival. Meanwhile, Red Riding Hood is at the bakery getting some bread for her grandma and she steals some biscuits. The Baker catches her stealing but his wife lets Red Riding Hood have them for free and even gives Red Riding Hood more biscuits and sweets. 

After Red Riding Hood leaves, the Baker’s neighbour, who is an ugly old woman called The Witch (Meryl Streep), enters the bakery in a sudden blast of wind. The Witch explains that she has placed a curse on the Baker’s lineage so he will never have children due to his father’s (Simon Russell Beale) theft of her magic beans. When the witch’s mother discovered the beans missing, she placed a curse on her daughter, turning her into an ugly and old woman. The Witch also said she took the Baker’s father’s newborn baby girl, whom is later revealed to be Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy). 

The Witch needs the Baker and his wife to enter the woods and bring her four ingredients for a magic potion to reverse her curse, and in return she will lift the curse she placed on the Baker so he and his wife can have a child. The four ingredients are a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn and the slipper as pure as gold. The Baker and his wife need to have all four ingredients before midnight in three days when there will be a blue moon. The Baker insists on going alone despite his wife’s plea that they go together. The Baker discovers several beans in his father’s old jacket and does not realise they are the stolen magic beans from The Witch’s garden.

  

All the characters enter the woods; The Baker goes in search for the four ingredients and his wife joins him sometime later, Red Riding Hood goes to visit her grandma, Jack takes Milky-White to sell at the market, Cinderella goes to her mother’s grave for guidance while her step-mother and step-sisters go to the festival. From this point, each of the characters not only go into the woods but they also enter the plots of their original fairy tale. All the four ingredients needed to reverse The Witch’s curse form the link that brings together all the characters as they deal with the moral consequences of their actions. The magic beans appear to be the catalyst that sparked the vengeful actions of The Witch in response to the Baker’s father’s theft. 

The stellar cast sing competently throughout the film conveying humour, sadness or jubilance and the performances are wonderful without being excessively melodramatic. Meryl Streep portrays a witch for the first time in her film career and excels in the role as her character displays different forms of nastiness to the Baker’s father and to Rapunzel. The Witch exacts revenge on the Baker’s father and then takes away his newborn daughter, thus breaking up a family and denying the girl of a father or a male role model. The Witch also appears to be nurturing and caring towards Rapunzel, yet she is emotionally abusing Rapunzel in being overprotective and controlling by isolating the girl from all outside contacts such as the prince, her community and other social circles. Abusers assert their dominance over other people by cutting off all support networks to make people vulnerable and reliant on them.

Anna Kendrick portrays Cinderella with gentle and whimsical expressions of kindness and consideration, that makes her the most respectable and admirable character, who is also the most morally strong and virtuous. Cinderella’s step-mother and step-sisters often tease and physically abuse her yet Cinderella remains kind and thoughtful instead of being vengeful. Cinderella is the character that would infuriate feminists the least due to her decision of waiting to be ‘found’ not ‘rescued’ by a prince. This puts Cinderella in control as she makes the prince come to her and remains hopeful and optimistic that he will be worth the wait. Furthermore, Cinderella is only interested in love and not the prince's wealth or status, and similarly, her prince still loves her when he 'finds' her wearing a peasant dress with a bit of dirt on her face.

Emily Blunt performs and sings beautifully as the Baker’s Wife and her seven-month baby bump is well disguised under her costume. Blunt’s character is defined by her name and role, and being a baker’s wife without a proverbial ‘bun in the oven’ makes her unhappy. This character will enrage some feminists who claim a woman should not be defined by her ovaries or fertility. However, the Baker’s Wife commits adultery and the consequences may seem accidental but she died feeling regret and guilt for succumbing to temptation. This aspect will annoy feminists as the married woman who commits adultery will be punished yet the married man, in this case Cinderella’s Prince, who does the same will escape any consequences.

Although the film is a combination of different fairy tales, the themes are often the same and the characters find themselves in similar situations and making the same decisions or taking the same actions. Theft is a common immoral act in the film, with the Baker’s father stealing The Witch’s magic beans, Red Riding Hood steals some of the Baker’s bread and biscuits, the Baker’s Wife steals Rapunzel’s hair and Jack steals numerous objects from the Giant, including golden coins, a hen that lays golden eggs and a golden harp. The consequences for the actions of each of the characters vary and the reasons for stealing may not justify the actions, particularly as the characters appeared to be acting on greed rather than need at the time they committed theft.

Murder is also committed by some of the characters including the Baker who murders the Wolf to save Red Riding Hood and her grandma, Jack murders the Giant by chopping down the beanstalk, and the Steward of Cinderella’s prince kills Jack’s mother by violently shoving her to the ground where she hits her head on a log and dies. In the film adaptation, the murder scenes are toned down yet in the stage version, the violence is quite extreme. None of the characters seem to be accepting responsibility for the murders they committed, and there is a sense that their actions were justified. For example, the Baker needed to kill the Wolf so he can get Red Riding Hood’s red cape which is one of the four ingredients, Jack needed to kill the Giant to prevent total destruction of his village and further deaths, and the Steward needed to silence Jack’s hysterical mother so her ravings won’t lure the Giant’s wife towards them.

Revenge is another moral issue where often it is not justified and is seen as self-serving in the film. The Witch’s mother placed a curse on her for failing to protect the magic beans and The Witch in turn placed a curse on the Baker’s father. The Giant’s wife came down from the second beanstalk to seek revenge for her dead husband. The fairy tales implicitly show that revenge of any form or for any reason is not often justified as it is not a way to seek justice but will only cause more harm and hurt to others.

In regards to Freudian symbols, all the four ingredients needed to create the potion to reverse the curse on The Witch and the Baker are feminine symbols which may not represent the act of intercourse but are related to sexuality. The ingredients are needed to enable the Baker’s Wife to have a child and for The Witch to regain her youth and beauty. In the Freudian notion, these aspects (fertility, youth and beauty) are often linked to desires and images of femininity and womanhood. The red colour of the cape is supposed to represent menstrual blood. The cow as white as milk is a female animal that provides natural nourishment for its offspring, in a similar way a woman provides breast milk for her baby. The hair as yellow as corn is a Westernised symbol of youth and beauty in women who have blonde hair. The golden slipper has a contradictory symbol of authority and power or humility and servitude, perhaps as it belongs to Cinderella who challenges some conservative ideas of femininity.

Into The Woods is a beautifully filmed and scored adaptation of the stage musical and the performances are consistently entertaining. The film’s colour palette of earthy hues for many of the characters’ costumes complements the natural colours of the woods. The lighting effects are impressive as it cast shadows of darkness and moments of light within the woods to depict the characters’ uncertainty or enlightenment of their experiences. The lighting effects also portray the woods as a character providing the dual purpose of danger and delight for the human characters; perhaps as a metaphor that life is full of more than good or bad such as the huge grey area of the unknown which is yet to be explored or understood.

Into The Woods consists of fairy tales that are familiar to many children yet there are some horrible scenes kept in the film to maintain the fairy tales’ authenticity, such as Cinderella’s step-mother cutting off the elder step-sister’s toes and then cuts off her other daughter’s heel so the golden shoe can fit their feet. Blood is shown resulting from these desperate acts. Adults may be able to explain the fairy tale’s morals and values to children, albeit in vague ways due to the ambivalence of the moral and ethical decisions the characters face in the fairy tales.

Director: Rob Marshall

Writer: James Lapine (screenplay, stage musical)

Cast: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Huttlestone, Lilla Crawford, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Lucy Punch, Tammy Blanchard, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Billy Magnussen, Mackenzie Mauzy, Richard Glover, Frances de la Tour, Joanna Riding, Annette Crosbie, Simon Russell Beale, Tug the cow

Producers: Rob Marshall, Marc Platt, John DeLuca, Callum McDougall, Michael Zimmer, Angus More Gordon

Film Editor: Wyatt Smith

Cinematographer: Dion Beebe

Original Music Composers: Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics), David Krane (score adaptation)

Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood

Production: Dennis Gassner (production design), Anna Pinnock (set decorator), Mary Mackenzie, Ben Collins, Chris Lowe, Andrew Bennett (art direction)

Running Time: 2 hours and 10 minutes

Still Life (2013); drama film review

British poster artwork for the drama film Still Life.

Dignified Departures by Linh

Still Life is Italian film-maker Uberto Pasolini’s second feature film as director and writer, following his previous film Machan which dealt with the hardships of people who move to another country to seek wealth and a better life. While Machan had some light-hearted humour juxtaposed with the seriousness of socio-economic conditions and treatment of immigrants, Still Life is gentle and poignant in its depiction of death, connections, relationships, compassion and humanity.

Still Life is deeply moving at times where the main character John May (Eddie Marsan) goes about living his quiet and lonely life while working to “assist” those who have lost theirs. The film opens with John being the only one at three different funeral services for his “clients” and he attends the burial service afterwards. John is a council worker in London, working for the Client Services department, who is tasked with seeking the family of the deceased. Many of the cases involve those who have died alone in their own homes and have no family or no contact with family members for many years. This makes it difficult for John to find his “clients” family to attend funerals and organise burials or cremations. John arranges funerals as a courtesy and out of kindness for the deceased even though family or friends never attend. A curious thing John does, that is possibly not part of his job, is collect photographs of his deceased “clients” and place them inside a large photo album with his other “clients”. It seems creepy but it also shows that he is keeping alive memories of the dead which otherwise their family members should be doing.

After a series of sad cases such as a single lady named Jane Ford who was found dead in her bed at her home and her cat named Susie died shortly after, John comes across a case concerning a middle-aged man named William ‘Billy’ Stoke. Stoke’s case becomes John’s final one as his manager Mr. Pratchard (Andrew Buchan) announces that John’s role will be made redundant due to cost-cutting and he will be “let go” in the next three days. However, John pleads for a few more days to complete Stoke’s case, which gives him more time to find Billy’s family and friends. As John traces the family and work history of Billy, he finds the connections he makes with the Stoke family, especially with Billy’s long-estranged daughter Kelly (Joanne Froggatt), and Billy’s ex-workmates and army friends, provide a better idea of who Billy Stoke was as an individual and not just another “client”.

DEATH DUTIES: John May (Eddie Marsan) speaks with a client's family member who refuses to attend their relative's funeral in the film Still Life. Image: Redwave Films.

Throughout the film, audiences are given a glimpse into a person’s private life according to their material possessions and personal documents. Obviously, people cannot take material possessions with them when they die, yet these physical objects can represent part of a person’s individuality; giving them a name, an identity and leaving behind a history of a person’s life. In the film, John takes some of these possessions, particularly photographs, to help him write eulogies and plan for funerals as the family members often never attend or care about the deceased relative. Therefore, John places more value on the individual than onto the objects, yet in society (usually in capitalist ones), humans are often seen as commodities. The film seems to suggest that commodification is prevalent in modern society, turning underlying human relationships we have with each other into commodities. Hence, John refers to the deceased as his “clients” instead of personally addressing them by their name and his manager sees the deceased in monetary terms. This begins to change when John worked on his final case for Billy Stoke. Not only did he manage to convince family, friends and ex-colleagues to attend Billy’s funeral, he saw other possibilities in his life.

DEPARTED'S DWELLINGS: John May (Eddie Marsan) must visit his deceased clients' homes to seek information for contacting family in the film Still Life. Image: Redwave Films.

Eddie Marsan (The World’s End, God’s Pocket) is excellent as the laconic and meticulous John May, and convincingly portrays a character with a personality that suits his job. John is a reserved and quiet man who pays attention to details and is very organised and orderly about everything he does. He almost seems to possess obsessive compulsive disorder, being very cautious and careful in his personal life as he is at work. John’s personality changes gradually from controlled to spontaneous following the news of his redundancy, yet these changes seem to be more positive than harmful, particularly when he meets Billy’s daughter Kelly. 

Joanne Froggatt is mostly known for her roles in British television dramas such as Coronation Street and Downton Abbey, and she is delightful and wonderful as Kelly in Still Life. Not only is Kelly a romantic interest for John in the film, she is also a catalyst for John’s change in his life’s perspective. He even stops wearing a suit and tie and dresses in colour instead of his usual black coat and white shirt. 

CLOSE CONNECTIONS: Kelly Stoke (Joanne Froggatt) finds a friend in John May (Eddie Marsan) in the film Still Life. Image: Redwave Films.

The supporting cast give some memorable performances such as the two homeless men (Paul Anderson and Tim Potter) who knew Billy very briefly and his ex-colleague Shakthi (Neil D’Souza) at the meat pie factory. These characters represent the disconnect often seen between family, friends or colleagues when a person’s bad or unwise decisions result in disagreements and animosity.

CONSOLING CONVERSATION: John May (Eddie Marsan) buys a bottle of whiskey for two homeless men who knew Billy Stoke to encourage them to attend Billy's funeral in the film Still Life. Image: Redwave Films.

Still Life is a cathartic experience for anyone who has lost a loved one and the film is emotionally-stirring in its simplistic depictions of the deceased who are only seen in photographs and spoken about by others. The film also shows that sometimes we all remember our loved ones differently when they die and the impression left by the deceased may not always be positive, but they will not be forgotten either. This film is a remarkable and must-see independent film from Pasolini and the unexpected ending will leave some audiences teary-eyed or dissatisfied.

Director: Uberto Pasolini

Writers: Uberto Pasolini

Cast: Eddie Marsan, Joanne Froggatt, Andrew Buchan, Neil D’Souza,
Tim Potter, Paul Anderson, Karen Drury, Bronson Webb, Mark Oliver

Producers: Uberto Pasolini, Barnaby Southcombe, Ceri Hughes, Felix
Vossen, Christopher Simon, Marco Valerio Pugini, Michael S. Constable

Original Music Composer: Rachel Portman

Cinematographer: Stefano Falivene

Film Editors: Gavin Buckley, Tracy Granger

Production: Lisa Hall

Costume Designer: Pam Downe

Running Time: 1 hour and 35 minutes

Populaire (2012); romantic comedy film review

French film poster artwork for the romantic comedy film Populaire.

Pastiche Pygmalion Parody by Linh

Populaire is a delightful and charming rom-com (romantic comedy) that only the French can create without the predictability and spoon-feeding aspects of this genre that are often seen in most American contemporary rom-com films. An impressive aspect of this film is the blending of pastiche in imitating the era of the 1950s and the parody of the Pygmalion myth. Populaire uses various references from the American television series Mad Men and the light-hearted American rom-com films of the 1950s such as the style of dress and the attitudes regarding gender roles and expectations. In parodying the Pygmalion myth, Populaire cleverly uses humour and characterisation to depict the “coming to life or awakening” of an independent and strong-willed woman under the guidance of a competitive and suave man.

WORKPLACE WINNER: Rose (Déborah François) excels in all secretarial tasks for her boss Louis (Romain Duris) in the romantic comedy film Populaire. Image: Wild Bunch, The Weinstein Company.

Populaire is set during 1958-1959 in the small town of Normandy in France, where a young woman named Rose Pamphyle (Déborah François), who lives with her widowed father Jean (Frédéric Pierrot), is soon to be engaged to the local mechanic’s son. Rose is adamant she will not marry and plans to seek a job instead. One day she takes the typewriter in her father’s shop, inserts a sheet of paper and types her name using her two index fingers. A few months later, Rose travels to Lisieux to apply for a job as a secretary at Echard and Sons Insurance company, where she meets the owner Louis Echard (Romain Duris). He dismisses her based on lack of experience, but she promptly shows him she has speed and accuracy in typing despite using only her two index fingers. Louis is impressed and strikes a deal with Rose that he will only employ her if she agrees to compete in a series of speed typing competitions. Rose agrees to Louis’s terms and conditions in order to get the job as secretary, resulting in humourous moments including speed and touch typing training using all her fingers, physical training sessions, piano playing with Marie (Bérénice Bejo) to keep her fingers flexible and an unexpected meeting with Louis’s family.

TENACIOUS TYPIST: Louis (Romain Duris) times Rose (Déborah François) as she practises her speed typing in the romantic comedy film Populaire. Image: Wild Bunch, The Weinstein Company.

A study of the film’s poster design gives hints at the themes and metaphors present in Populaire that relate to gender and competition. Regarding gender in the workplace, Rose is standing behind Louis which suggests that the secret behind a businessman’s success is his secretary. In the film, Louis was a former boxer and athlete who was unable to achieve national and international success and is haunted by his days as a member of the French Resistance during World War II. With his strict regimental training for Rose to win speed typing competitions, he can share in her success and experience the sense of being a champion again.

Another gender-related reading of this poster is the positioning of subjects/objects in the frame; the typewriter represents female success and independence in the workplace yet there is a man between it and the female typist. This may suggest that the only thing that stands between a woman and her pathway upwards to success in the workplace is misogyny or sexism, as the male is seen as representing patriarchy.

TWO-FINGERED TYPIST: Rose (Déborah François) competes for the first time in the local speed typing competition in the romantic comedy film Populaire. Image: Wild Bunch, The Weinstein Company.

The pastiche of Populaire closely resembles the set, wardrobe and era of the television series Mad Men, particularly in the office scenes depicting Louis and Rose at work and in training for the speed typing competitions. The gender politics in Populaire become apparent in the parodying of the Pygmalion myth adapted from a play by George Bernard Shaw whereby, instead of polishing up on the spoken word, Rose is required to speed up the written word using a typewriter. Therefore, Rose is transformed into a modern working woman through training to be a super-fast typist who gains the adoration of the public and respect from Louis. The typewriter is a central character in the film, as it is seen in almost every scene, mostly as a supporting character to the typist.

SPORTING STAMINA: Louis (Romain Duris) trains Rose (Déborah François) to develop strength and stamina as part of her speed typing training in the romantic comedy film Populaire. Image: Wild Bunch, The Weinstein Company.

Typists were typically female with secretaries being one of the highest paid and sought-after jobs for women in the post-war era, however the film depicts typing as not only for work but also as a sport. This is a contentious aspect of the film suggesting that not only do women compete against other women for a man, they also compete against other women for work and in sport. Some critics may argue that men also compete with other men in love, work and sport so what is the issue? The issue is that in a patriarchy society, women are not only competing with other women, they are competing in male-dominated and male-controlled arenas. In the film, every aspect of Rose’s typing training and work schedule is controlled by her boss Louis. Rose is not given any opportunities to contribute ideas or suggestions. In the competition arena, Rose may be competing with other women, but it also an arena controlled by men. Populaire cleverly uses metaphors to parody and modernise Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion depicting gender bias in the workplace, which is still prevalent in the twenty first century.

FLEXIBLE FINGERS: Marie (Bérénice Bejo) teaches Rose (Déborah François) to play the piano to help keep her fingers supple for speed typing competitions in the romantic comedy film Populaire. Image: Wild Bunch, The Weinstein Company.

The cast for Populaire is excellent and Déborah François (The Page Turner, Maestro) is brilliant as Rose in her transformation from a shy, small-town and two-finger typist to an international speed typing winner; Romain Duris (Mood Indigo, Chinese Puzzle) is smooth talking and suave as the male chauvinist boss Louis wearing similar style business attire as Don Draper from Mad Men; Bérénice Bejo (The Artist, The Past) is lovely as Marie Taylor, who looks glamourous and seductive even as a housewife who teaches piano in her home. She is Louis’s former lover who married his best friend Bob due to Louis’s lack of commitment to their relationship; Shaun Benson (The Metrosexual, Le Beau Risque) is delightful as Bob Taylor, the comic relief and Louis’s best friend who takes a keen interest in Louis’s plan to train Rose for competitions.

WINNERS WALTZ: Louis (Romain Duris) and Rose (Déborah François) dance at a dinner party after a successful day at the local speed typing trials
in the romantic comedy film Populaire. Image: Wild Bunch, The Weinstein Company.

Populaire is a sparkling romantic comedy gem that appeals to those who enjoy gender issues served up in a light-hearted manner as only French rom-com films can deliver. The brightly coloured production designs, the retro clothing, hairstyles and the wonderful performances make this film a nostalgic look at the past that reminds viewers how women have progressed and achieved so much since the 1950s, albeit with a little help from some men and technology.

Director: Régis Roinsard

Writers: Régis Roinsard, Romain Compingt, Daniel Presley

Cast: Romain Duris, Déborah François, Bérénice Bejo, Shaun Benson, Mélanie Bernier, Féodor Atkine, Nicholas Bedos, Eddy Mitchell, Miou- Miou, Jeanne Cohendy, Caroline Tillette, Frédéric Pierrot, Marius Colucci, Emeline Bayart, Yannik Landrein, Natassja Girard, Dominique Reymond, Hugo De Sousa

Producers: Gaëtan David, Alain Attal, André Logie, Xavier Amblard

Original Music Composer: Emmanuel D’Orlando, Robin Coudert

Cinematographer: Guillaume Schiffman

Film Editors: Sophie Reine, Laure Gardette

Production: Sylvie Olivé (Production Designer), Jimena Esteve (Set Decorator)

Costume Designer: Charlotte David

Languages: French, English and German with English subtitles

Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes

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)