by Tereza Onderková
Film critique : My Life as Courgette
\\\ Warning: this article may contain spoilers ///
Courgette is the main character of this stop-motion comedy-drama animation film, aimed both at children and adult audiences. The film received the César for Best Animated Film in 2016 at the Cannes Film Festival. It was directed by Claude Barras and Written by Céline Sciamma. In her films, this French screenwriter and director questions current social topics such as gender issues, the role of women in society, sorority or the topics of children and adolescents not like others.
This film, based on Gilles Paris’ novel “Autobiographie d’une Courgette” (Autobiography of a courgetti), deals with the topic of a child and a teen marked by neglect and maltreatment. Courgette is a nine-year-old boy who lives alone with his mother. At the begging of the film, spectators are exposed to the absence of Courgette’s father and the likely alcohol addiction from which seems to suffer his mother. Following the main character all along the film, they will see how Courgette handles various difficult and painful situations such as abandonment, the sudden loss of a beloved one and the grief linked with it. He copes with these personal experiences through different responses, like state of paralysis, deny, anger or even depression. However, his real evolution begins when he makes new encounters. These encounters will lead him to experience a new kind of a home and later allow him to go through a personal reconstruction and a redevelopment in his new environment. Not to reveal too much of the plot, I will stop my description here.
The movie is highly filled with symbols interpreting the experience of neglected and maltreated children. It accurately describes their psychological reality. This reality is extremely complex and often hard to understand if not experienced. Hence the importance of psychologists’ knowledge in accompanying people that are going through such experiences.
If you watch this film with children, you will see that they do not react to the film in the same way as adults do. This is probably because they do not understand some of the symbols yet, or because they interpret them differently from adults.
I can only recommend this film, because I found it very precise and truthful in the way it captures a psychological reality. At the same time, it can be very amusing and gentle, not even mentioning the animation side of the film, which is a splendid piece of work!
Words I have learned:
- neglect (n) – négligence, inattention
- maltreatment (n) – maltraitance
- encounter (n) – rencontre
- state of paralysis (n) – état de sidération
- plot (n) – intrigue
Bibliography
Barras, C. (2015). Ma vie de Courgette [image]. France tv. https://www.france.tv/films/longs-metrages/1523311-ma-vie-de-courgette.html