Magical Caresses: Podcast interview with Lori Malépart-Traversy
In the latest episode of Intimate Animation, our podcast series exploring animation that deals with adult themes of love, relationships and sexuality, we welcome back Lori Malépart-Traversy, who has followed up her enormously successful Concordia student film Le Clitoris with Magical Caresses (Caresses magiques), a five-film series of animated documentaries that humorously present a range of testimonials and historical facts that demystify the subject of female sexuality and masturbation.
Exec produced by Julie Roy and Christine Noël of the National Film Board of Canada, Magical Caresses is based on four accounts from Sarah Gagnon-Piché and Sara Hébert’s Caresses magiques book series.
Episode 1: Turquoise Fish
A young woman recalls a kooky ritual involving masturbation that she’d invented as a child. A candid and introspective short film about forgetting the outside world and abandoning oneself to pleasure (and fish).
Episode 2: Big Bang
This animated short film recounts a 23-year-old woman’s quest to achieve her first orgasm. Along the way, it takes a sensitive and humorous look at the little-known phenomenon of vaginismus. The result is a captivating tale of exploration, discovery and dildos.
Episode 3: Sweet Jesus
What happens when masturbation has its “come to Jesus” moment? This animated short takes a light and humorous approach to examining religion’s moral taboos around the female body and desires. A story full of kindness and questioning, in which good and evil intermingle with prayer and caresses.
Episode 4: Playhouse
How does porn fuel sexual fantasies? For some, the most powerful images are those that flirt with completely unfamiliar situations. This animated short with a magic touch relates one woman’s confessions about her favourite erotic scenarios.
The series concludes with Masturbation: A Short History of a Great Taboo, a mini-documentary in the vein of Le Clitoris exploring society’s relationship with – and attitudes toward – masturbation throughout history, which recently won Best Educational Film at Montreal’s Sommets du cinéma d’animation. Magical Caresses is part of the Official Selection at this year’s Annecy festival represented by episode 3 (Sweet Jesus) playing in competition.
Also discussed in this episode: The upcoming premiere of previous podcast guest Signe Baumane‘s new independent feature My Love Affair With Marriage, the quiet UK return of Lisa Hanawalt‘s Tuca and Bertie, a look at Netflix’s Big Mouth spinoff series Human Resources and Sam O’Leary’s animated segments for the Inside No. 9 episode Wise Owl.
Presented by Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley
Interview conducted by Ben Mitchell
Produced and edited by Ben Mitchell
Annecy festivalgoers can catch Magical Caresses: Sweet Jesus as part of the TV Films in Competition 3 programme.