Animated films for adults – or, at least, for teenagers – are rare enough that they generate interest.
The dark colors, the mature subject of this animated film in stop motion have something to surprise. And the more “adult” references as well… like the allusion to Kierkegaard, the reference to Sylvia Plath or the one to Diary of Anne Frank.
Grace Pudel (voiced, in the original version, by Sarah Snook), a lonely woman, tells her life story to her snail, who responds to the sweet name of Sylvia. We find out that she had a twin brother (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), that their mother died giving birth to them, that she had an operation when she was little, that their father became a paraplegic, etc.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MÉTROPOLE FILMS DISTRIBUTION
Grace’s life is no fun, but these Memoirs of a snail are illuminated by Grace’s meeting with Pinky (voice of Jacki Weaver), an eccentric old lady with huge red glasses and one of whose feats of arms is having played ping-pong with Fidel Castro.
If the story imagined by Adam Elliot is sure to make you shed a few tears (and we can also bet that the feature film will be nominated for an Oscar), it is the attention to detail that impresses, the filmmaker and screenwriter having painstakingly created this visual universe exceptional, made of a thousand and one everyday objects which give body and heart to these Memoirs of a snail.
Memoirs of a snail hits screens on November 8.
Rating: 4 out of 5
