Memorable Review & Interview with Bruno Collet
Memorable, Bruno Collet’s recent award winner at Annecy Festival, is a moving and poignant tale of Louis, a painter, and his wife Michelle, who’re experiencing strange events. The world around them seems to be mutating. Slowly, the furniture, objects and people are losing their realism. The word Dementia is never explicitly used however it is strongly implied that Louis is losing his grasp of reality. His confusion is apparent immediately with him forgetting where the meat is. At first his misunderstandings are met with playful frustration, but over time, his world becomes more and more distorted until he can no longer recognise himself nor his wife. Memorable took home the ‘Audience Award’, the ‘Cristal for a Short Film’ and the ‘Junior Jury Award for a Short Film’, from the Annecy Animation Festival. A surprising choice from the junior jury, given the tone and subject matter, but a very good choice nonetheless.
The visual style of Memorable is incredibly textural and impressionistic, clearly inspired by Van Gogh. The Doctor character seems inspired by Giacometti’s “Man pointing”. The design and the sound marry with the story seamlessly, as things become more warped and fragmented, the beautiful emotive strings become more intense. Even as Louis’ mind unravels, he continues to make art and express charming remarks to his wife. A bittersweet feeling lingers through the film. There is a sense of loss and change but it is not instant or complete. It is a slow and gradual fade depicted well by the transition from realistic set and character design to a surreal and abstracted world that is unfamiliar and unsettling.
The animation style is both subtle and natural, making the characters and emotion seem authentic and sincere. The simple recognisable gestures such as a shake of the head in disbelief draw you in and cause you to believe and invest in these characters. Something I like about this film is that you see both points of view and empathise with both Louis and Michelle. There’s a powerful scene in which Louis thinks Michelle is in his studio and mid-conversation she vanishes. The audience are positioned to experience what he’s going through as much as we are empathising with Michelle.
It’s refreshing to see a stop-motion drama that’s aimed at adults and covering a sensitive topic that I’m sure resonates with many. Memorable is a piece of Art with heart and feeling that will be very hard to forget.
Conversation with Bruno Collet
The subject of this film is a sensitive one; what influenced your decision to make a film about it, and why did you choose stop-motion as the technique?
In our aging society, this disease is more and more present. Yet, even if it concerns many people, it remains mysterious. Why does it affect some people and not others? How can it be avoided or cured? The questions are many, but the answers are rare and often frightening.
This short film offers an interpretation, a very personal and poetic look, on this neurological degeneration. Even if the end is sad and inescapable, “Memorable” remains above all a love film.
Faced with the harsh reality experienced by many couples and families, the use of stop-motion can mark a distance with reality. On the other hand, this technique allows for great creative freedom to imagine the decaying world facing ‘Louis’; the main character of the film.
Is there a significance in the central character being a painter?
No; if only as a former student of an art school, the universe of the character of the film, his references, his memories are mine too.
Were there any particular challenges you faced during production that were unexpected?
Yes. Usually, when the characters speak, we modify the lips by changing the faces of the characters. Made of resin, each of them has a different expression.
For “Memorable”, the complexity of the texture and the painting of the puppets did not allow us to use this technique. The faces had to really move. Built in latex foam, the ‘skin’ of the characters is animated thanks to an ingenious system of patella.
However, I wanted the animation of the mouths to remain sober so that the intention of the spectator does not focus on them, but rather on the look of Louis and Michelle; their eyes being the only elements that do not evolve throughout the film.
What was your favourite part of the production process?
The moment I prefer was certainly that of the writing. Alone, sitting at my desk, everything is possible. I can still dream for “Memorable” at a family meal gathering more than forty guests. The intervention of the producer brings me back to the harsh reality. For him and his budget, seven puppets, that’s enough (laughs).
Since Memorable’s success at Annecy, it’s most recent awards include three from Brazil’s Anima Mundi festival – Best Art direction, Audience Award in Rio, and Audience Award in Sao Paulo. You can catch Memorable at any of the following festivals: BIAF Bucheon, IAFF Krok, Animanima (Serbia), and Brest European Short Film Festival.