05/06/2003 - An interview with the director of Les Triplettes de Belleville, a success at the last Cannes Film Festival: «There’s too much dialogue in films»

Presented at the Cannes Film Festival out of competition, Les Triplettes de Belleville became a great success. The film is innovative, there’s no dialogue, and its aesthetic beauty is breathtaking. There were difficulties during the making of the film, but this first work by Sylvain Chomet is drawn with a ‘retro’ style and in a refined way. Cineuropa had the chance to meet the director and the producer, Didier Brunner.

Why did you make this type of film?
Sylvain Chomet: “I draw for comics as well as doing animation. I was lucky enough to learn animation in Britain. For me, animation is the art of mime, I find that when you can have less dialogue, you can bring the beauty of movement and of the expressions more to the fore. I think there’s too much dialogue in films. Above all, especially in Hollywood films, the real trick is to get in lots of quick gags, instead of working on the movements. As far as Walt Disney is concerned you realise that the first films had a lot less ‘talking’.
Animation is an art that is the process of changing. You often find the solution by accident. I believe that the 12 principles of animation thought up by Walt Disney in the ’40s have paralysed animation. For me its more about showing that animated characters can also be excellent actors”.

The character of Champion the runner is a bit like Fausto Coppi. Is he inspired by Coppi?
S.C.: “Champion is the first character I drew when I thought of the Triplettes triology. Thinking of the face of the cyclist I imaged a kindly person. I read up about cyclists of the period, and it’s true that Fausto Coppi had very harsh and sharp features. For me cyclists are like children, very kind people who give everything of themselves.

The film is nostalgic with a very engaging rhythm. The start is very much like an animated cartoon and then gradually you have the impression of entering into a book. Do you agree?
“That’s exactly what I wanted. I started with an animated drawing, ‘mono’ sound and a ruined picture. Then, getting further into the film I wanted to give the impression that you’re watching something different, not just an animated drawing”.

What role does the music play?
S.C.: “All the music is original and its fantastic. The musicians in the film play home-made instruments, making music with a fridge and a vacuum cleaner. It’s very moving”.

Would you say that the characters were controlled by a director?
Didire Brunner: “Yes, there was a lot of direction in the film. I worked with Sylvain and the animators in a very hands-on way. Every character has its own movements, their gestures reflect their own personality”

S.C.: “Animation is cinema, you can’t make films with bad actors” How long did it take to make the film?

S.C.: “We started the film in 2D and then we realised that we were making very slow progress, 2 seconds a week. And as a result we had to ask for help from Belgium and French studios for the last scene, the one where there’s the very long and complex car chase sequence. I’m very happy with this collaboration, which allowed us to finish the film in the timescale we’d envisaged. We didn’t all work in the same place, and we found particular ways of making it happen, trying out new techniques to integrate the 2D with the 3D. And this also meant we lost a lot of time, but I understood that the spirit of 3D is the same as 2D. I managed to keep the 2D aesthetic in the 3D version”.

What audience is the film aimed at?
S.C.: “At the start I didn’t make a film for children. There are references to Charles de Gaulle and to the Tour de France. But in the end I think the film can be seen by kids, who often understand things better than adults. There aren’t any violent scenes: there’s someone who gets killed but you don’t see it”.