Edinburgh International FILM FESTIVAL
bigThe draw
Miles Fielder meets animator Sylvain Chomet, whose new film, The Illusionist, pays tribute to his adopted hometown of Edinburgh
T he year after French animator Sylvain Chomet knocked out cinema-goers at the 2003 Edinburgh International Film Festival with his wildly eccentric and utterly charming double-Oscar nominated debut feature, Belleville Rendez-vous (aka The Triplets of Belleville), he and his wife Sally relocated to the Scottish capital and set up their own animation outfit, Studio Django. Drafting in a handful of colleagues from Canada, where Belleville was made, Chomet began making commercials to pay the bills while considering a number of film offers from Hollywood.
None of them appealed to the then 40-year-old Frenchman who wanted to sustain his highly idiosyncratic artistic vision with the kind of complete creative freedom that Tinseltown financiers rarely agree to. So, instead Chomet decided to dedicate the next five years of his life to a self-penned second animated feature that would be set in Scotland, in Edinburgh and the Western Isles, in the late 1950s and would tell the story of an ageing itinerant stage magician and a young girl who becomes his surrogate daughter. The finished film, The Illusionist, is every bit as charmingly quirky as its predecessor and, quite appropriately, it’s receiving its UK premiere at the opening night of the 64th edition of the EIFF. ‘I had fallen in love with Edinburgh when I presented The Triplets of Belleville at the Film Festival,’ says Chomet, who has since moved back to France to live in Provence, but who will be making a return trip to his adopted home to present The Illusionist. ‘I found the city a very magical place – something about the constantly changing light. I had lived in Montreal when making The Triplets of Belleville and there is a very Canadian feel to that movie. I believe it’s important to live in the same environment you are trying to animate, because your inspiration is then all around you.’
Aside from the Scottish influence, there’s another strong source of inspiration apparent in The Illusionist: the French clown prince of comedy Jacques Tati. Chomet’s film is, in fact, based on an un-filmed script written by the late, great Tati, and its main character is modelled on Tati himself. The Tati connection came about as a result of Chomet approaching the comedian’s estate to request the use of a clip from Tati’s film Jour de Fête in Belleville Rendez-vous. Tati’s daughter, Sophie Tatischeff, was impressed enough by what Chomet’s producer showed her of Belleville to not only grant his request but also to suggest he adapt a script her father wrote between 1956 and 59 but subsequently shelved.
22 THE LIST 10–24 Jun 2010