The Illusionist (2010)
[DVD]

Description

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The Illusionist is one of a dying breed of stage entertainers. With emerging rock stars stealing his thunder in the late 1950s, he is forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theatres, at garden parties and in bars and cafés. However, whilst performing in a village pub off the west coast of Scotland, he encounters Alice, an innocent young girl, who will change his life forever. The Illusionist is a love letter from a father to his daughter. For Sophie Tatischeff, the daughter of Jacques Tati, comedy genius and French cinema legend, this touching correspondence could not be left undelivered. Catalogued in the CNC (Centre National de la Cinématographie) archives under the impersonal moniker ‘Film Tati Nº 4’, this un-produced script has waited half a century for hands to flick through its pages and realize its potential. Those eager hands belonged to Sylvain Chomet, the Oscar nominated and critically acclaimed creator of The Triplets of Belleville/Belleville Rendezvous, who enthusiastically rose to the challenge to fulfil an impossible dream--to once again bring the magic of the incomparable Jacques Tati to life. AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW The Illusionist (2010) is director Sylvain Chomet's homage to French writer-director-actor Jacques Tati, whose work he's loved for years: the three beldams in Chomet's The Triplets of Belleville even watch a clip from Tati's Jour de Fête in bed. Based on a script Tati wrote but never produced, the film focuses on a sleight-of-hand magician whose career founders as television and rock and roll supplant traditional entertainment. During a trip to a remote village in Scotland--where pub goers still appreciate his act--the magician encounters Alice, a teenage girl who works as a maid. When he departs, Alice follows him to Edinburgh, seeking a more glamorous life. In addition to his stage gigs, the Illusionist works at various odd jobs to support Alice, whom he treats as an adopted daughter. Like Triplets (and Tati's classic comedies), The Illusionist is told with only minimal dialogue. However, in place of the manic energy of Triplets, The Illusionist is permeated with a wistful melancholy for a fading era, a fading talent, and, ultimately, a fading relationship. The animation is more polished than in Chomet's previous films: a sequence of the drunken magician teetering around the lobby of a broken-down hotel is brilliantly drawn. The backgrounds of Edinburgh are beautifully rendered. The Illusionist won awards from several critics' groups in the United States, but it lacks the purity of vision of Triplets. The film represents a combination of Tati's and Chomet's sensibilities, rather than the pure work of either artist. It's a lovely film, but viewers expecting the take-no-prisoners absurdity of Triplets of Belleville will be disappointed. (Rated PG for thematic elements and smoking) --Charles Solomon

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