Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A French illusionist travels to Scotland to work. He meets a young woman in a small village. Their ensuing adventure in Edinburgh changes both their lives forever.
Sylvain Chomet's adaptation of an unproduced Jacques Tati script is a quietly singular work — melancholy, nearly wordless, and steeped in a bittersweet elegiac tone that few animated films attempt. The hand-drawn Edinburgh landscapes are breathtaking, rendered with painterly warmth and detail that earns a top cinematography mark. The film's conception is genuinely unique: a fading variety performer befriending a naive young woman, both caught in the tide of modernity sweeping away old entertainments. Novelty is high because the voice and mood are unmistakably Tati-Chomet — no other film quite occupies this space. However, the near-absence of dialogue limits dramatic tension and character interiority, keeping the plot at a competent but thin level. The ending is quietly affecting but somewhat abrupt, denying full emotional closure. Acting in the traditional sense is largely irrelevant here, and the physical performance-based animation, while charming, doesn't push further than its setup.