Other Titles • The Triplets of Belleville • Les Triplettes de Belleville • Belleville Rendez-Vous
Synopses for The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
1.
One of the more surprising critical hits of 2003, Sylvain Chomet's Belleville Rendezvous is a French animation that combines occasional beauty and charm with sardonic grotesquerie. People have commented about its bitchy portrait of a USA where everyone is overweight and over-helpful; it is equally nasty about a provincial France, where everything is grey and nothing is convenient. A grandmother and her dog set out to rescue a cyclist who has been kidnapped by the French Mafia and is forced to race endlessly into a receding projected landscape; she is helped by a superannuated trio of female close-harmony chansonniers marooned in American poverty.
Nothing in this film is mere chance--almost everything we see turns out to be relevant. There is also little dialogue--most of the time, sound effects and music take its place, from the irritating squeak of a mechanic's breathing to the sublimity of Mozart's "Kyrie" as a storm rages at sea. Belleville Rendezvous uses the best of traditional animation techniques and modern technology to produce something sharply funny and beautifully composed; it is not quite like anything you have seen before. --Roz Kaveney
(47 votes)
2.
Words cannot capture the delights of The Triplets of Belleville, an astonishing animated movie from the mind of French director Sylvain Chomet. In fact, there are only a few spoken sentences in the entire film; most of the soundtrack is a mix of squeaks, barks, and the jazzy music of Benoit Charest. A bicyclist is kidnapped from the Tour de France by mysterious gangsters; his grandmother travels to the city of Belleville (which has a sardonic version of the Statue of Liberty in its harbor), where she tracks him down with the help of a musical trio gone to seed, the Belleville Triplets. This hand-drawn movie is unlike anything you'll see from Disney; every scene mixes the silent comedy of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton--in which the world of objects subtly fights with living beings for mastery--and the bouncy hop of Betty Boop. Unique and mesmerizing. --Bret Fetzer
(40 votes)
3.
Noticing that her grandson, Champion, is never happier than on a bicycle, Madame Souza puts him through a rigorous training. Years go by and Champion is now ready to enter the world-famous cycling race, the Tour de France. During the contest two mysterious men kidnap Champion, so Madame Souza and her dog Bruno set out to rescue him. The quest takes them across the ocean where they soon find their trail on to Champion...
(30 votes)
4.
IN THEATRES: NOVEMBER 26, 2003 (NY/LA)
In this animated French film, a boy named Champion trains relentlessly for the Tour de France, with the help of his loyal grandmother and overweight dog, Bruno (who loves to bark at passing trains). When the big race comes, Champion and a few of his fellow racers are kidnapped by some box-shouldered thugs who spirit them off to Belleville (a surreal impression of 1930s-1950s Manhattan) where they are forced to peddle as part of a clandestine gambling operation. Bruno and grandma set out across the sea in a paddle boat to rescue their boy, but once ashore they soon become lost, hungry and penniless, that is until the frog-eating Triplets of Belleville, former scat singing jazz prodigies turned experimental musicians, come to their rescue.
Filled with inspired, twisted imagery, this nearly dialogue-free film is a crowd-pleaser of unusual power, with the strange, measured pacing of a dream, and a great soundtrack of bizarre alternate-reality '30s jazz. It also has offers a touching and believable evocation of a dog's life. A great throwback to the time before animation became dominated by CGI effects, TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE is a very strange, very loving French salute to obsession, affection, and persistence.
(35 votes)
5.
Adopted by his grandmother, Madame Souza, Champion is a lonely little boy. Noticing that this lad is never happier than on a bicycle, Madame Souza puts him through a rigorous training process. Years go by and Champion becomes worthy of his name. Now he is ready to enter the world-famous cycling race, the Tour de France. However, during this cycling contest two mysterious, square-shouldered henchmen kidnap Champion. Madame Souza and her faithful dog Bruno set out to rescue him. Their quest takes them across the ocean to the teeming metropolis of Belleville where they encounter the renowned "Triplets of Belleville," three eccentric female music-hall divas from the 30's who decide to take Madame Souza and Bruno under their wing. Thanks to Bruno’s brilliant sense of smell, the motley sleuths are soon on to Champion’s trail, following the clues to an underground betting parlor... now the chase is on!
(33 votes)
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