“An ode to freedom of thought, to questioning reality and standards” | Chicken for Linda! Feature Film Review
Chicken for Linda! © Miyu Productions/Dolce Vita Films/Palosanto Films/France 3 Cinema
Amid a nation-wide strike, Linda and her mother Paulette dash across the French countryside, cops on their tail. But this is no gangster movie, or at least not at first glance. All this hubbub started hours ago when, asked what would delight her, the tween asked her mother to cook her some poulet aux poivrons, a recipe that almost brought Paulette to tears. This particular dish was, as we discover throughout the course of this familial escapade, her husband’s signature meal, and it may well be the key to Linda’s happiness.
Chicken for Linda! was, to say the least, a success with Annecy’s crowds. Its coronation as the latest Cristal was met with an at least five-minutes standing ovation, where tears and laughter were shed equally by the public, directors Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, and this humble writer. Being a parent myself, Linda’s energy and passion was a delight to watch. A character created without a doubt by parents themselves, after their own experiences. As a human being, Linda’s story, her resilience and her rebellious spirit struck so many chords that, by halfway through the movie, I was about to bring down the system and walk straight to the picket lines. By second-guessing everything, this driven, not-so-little girl shakes the boundaries of bureaucracy, individualism and capitalism all together with a contagious energy. That said, Chicken for Linda! is not a political pamphlet per se; it’s way more subtle than that. When the truth begins to crack between the layers of silence and denial that run through the film, it’s very hard not to fall apart in tears, marvelling at the spark of this so-tiny-but-strong little girl. It’s the kind of piece that redefines the standards of childhood on screen, with just the stroke of a brush or a dot of colour.
Chicken for Linda! © Miyu Productions/Dolce Vita Films/Palosanto Films/France 3 Cinema
Malta and Laudenbach’s style is the perfect technique for such a story. From the shades and shadows that populated Laudenbach’s previous feature The Girl Without Hands, the artists sketch bold characters and beautiful landscapes, with colours so powerful they blow out on the screen, sometimes going beyond form and structure. Colours become emotions, subtly highlighting characters or rushing towards others, not unlike the musical movements of Fantasia or the beats of a Norman McLaren short. All entwined with the ravishing vivacity of Malta and Laudenbach’s ink lines.
Animation aside, what makes Chicken for Linda! such a powerful feature is its voice cast, spearheaded by the raw talent of twelve-year-old Mélinée Leclerc, whose debut performance as Linda is both empowering and emotional, a feat achieved by the filmmakers with a full – and kind of unique – pre-staging of the film.
Chicken for Linda! © Miyu Productions/Dolce Vita Films/Palosanto Films/France 3 Cinema
“Coming from live-action, it was inconceivable for me to do an animated feature without any links to reality,” said Malta when we met with the duo in Annecy for a short interview. “When you write a story, it changes once it meets with a cast, with sets and camera angles, and so we wanted to convey that feeling in this production. We played the script on set with the whole cast, recording dialogs and sounds that might be used later. Everything was there, except the camera. And that helped us rewrite the film, and bring it to the drawing table afterwards.” This process has made for an ever changing object, and created a picture that continues to evolve in my mind even now, as it will in everyone’s.
Chicken for Linda! © Miyu Productions/Dolce Vita Films/Palosanto Films/France 3 Cinema
Chicken for Linda! is an ode to freedom of thought, to questioning reality and standards, and to standing up to your beliefs. It’s a warm homage to the freedom of childhood, the recklessness and the energy that powers life before society and adulthood temper it down or even throw it off course. For Linda there are no limits yet, and that’s definitely for the best, as her liveliness and heart shines on everyone she meets. Contagion of this rebellion à la française spreads like a healthy virus throughout the characters, starting with the mother and reaching its peak when the unruly children of Linda’s neighbourhood take on a squad of policemen, eventually overcoming them. In many ways, Chicken for Linda! challenges us and points to the aberrations of our rule-driven world, where there is too little place for grief, rejoicing, friendship or love. And who better than a 12-year old child to show us what really matters in this animated universe, and in our very own little world? In that sense, this animated feature was nothing less than a defining moment of Annecy 2023, and it will surely make your heart break when it will be released in theatres; hopefully in 2024, as there’s been no UK date announced yet.
Chicken for Linda will be screening at the 2023 Manchester Animation Festival on Tuesday 14th November and Thursday 16th November.