Cinema: This new cartoon addresses divorce “that so many families have to face”

When it comes to animated films, divorce and parental separation have rarely been major themes. While some children’s films like “Madame Doubtfire” and “The Four of Us” have used the subject as a springboard for humorous adventures, cartoons have largely stayed away from it.

“You can kill a parent in a film like ‘The Lion King’ or ‘Bambi,'” notes Vicky Jenson, an American filmmaker who co-directed “Shrek.” “Disney mothers are often dead – the only time someone remarries is because the other spouse is dead,” she adds. But “the subject of separation, of the impossibility for parents to live together, (…) is taboo.”

With her new film “Ellian and the Spell”, the director features a princess whose parents were transformed into monsters by an evil spell. An allegory that pushes the teenager to try to “repair” her father and mother, and their broken family.

“We encountered some resistance when we were looking (…) for a partner to distribute it,” admits toAFP Mrs. Jenson. Many studios told her, “What a beautiful film, what a beautiful message,” she says, without ever calling her back. “I think they didn’t know how to market it,” she laughs.

After having been under the control of Paramount and Apple TV+ for a while, her film finally landed at Netflix, whose “courage” she salutes. It has been available since November 22. In a Hollywood that clings to superheroes as “safe bets” to fill movie theaters, “stories that push the limits are more accessible thanks to streaming,” she welcomes.

At the start of the film, Princess Ellian (voiced by Rachel Zegler in English), is desperately seeking a cure for the mysterious spell that transformed her parents, Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman) and King Solon (Javier Bardem). This tenacious teenager also tries to hide the affair from the citizens of the kingdom of Lumbria, to avoid a panic.

But when the secret is revealed, she finds herself catapulted into a dangerous quest to break the curse. Adventures during which she understands that even if she succeeds, her family may never return to exactly the way it was before. The film team called on a psychologist, specializing in divorces, to make Ellian’s behavior in front of her parents’ watches credible.

“Children feel like it’s up to them to make things right,” says Jenson. “They don’t understand that something happened to their parents – that they’re acting like monsters.” The director, cast and crew also drew inspiration from their own experiences.

“We all know our parents are monsters at some point. And as parents, we are all monsters at some point,” she jokes. The end result is a contemporary parable, set in a fairy tale universe. Enough to echo “Shrek”, Ms. Jenson’s first success.

“Shrek was the modern version of fairy tales,” says Jenson. “Here it is a fairy tale about a modern story.” “Now a new fairy tale exists for this experience that so many children, so many parents, so many families must face,” she concludes.

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