A brief analysis with spoilers of The Triplets of Belleville (directed by Sylvain Chomet and released in 2003), the greatest satirical movie that I have seen. I wrote this for people who have already seen the film, and it may not make sense if you haven’t. I was surprised that I couldn’t find a review which points out the underlying meaning that I see.
The movie is an allegory about the commercialization and professionalization of the entertainment industry. It can also be read more broadly as a warning of what we lose in the drive for profit.
The film’s opening is a tribute to early animation, with a loving imitation of the fluid style and creative visual humor of the time. The climax is a parody of a cliche Hollywood chase scene, though Hollywood chase scenes are so over-the-top that it’s hard to exaggerate them any further. The end is “yes, it’s over” (one of the few bits that depends on language and, I suppose, had to be translated for the North American release): The old heartfelt cartoons are gone, and money is in charge now. Every event in between lights the path we have taken from there to here.
The triplets stand for the quirky ways of art driven by the individual artist, rich in texture and poor in budget. The mafia stands for corporations, with boxy identical thugs who merge together (even the seemingly-cutesy character designs turn out to be detailed symbols). The Tour de France is depicted as an event started by bicycle lovers but now pushed so far by competition that the racers are overspecialized freaks who walk awkwardly. The kidnapping is corporate takeover, draining the last dregs of meaning from the event by replacing the travel with machinery.
I could go on and on about trains, Bruno the dog’s dreams, food, Europe vs. North America.... Every touch is meaningful.
Many early animated cartoons are in the public domain now. In the collection at archive.org you can see for yourself the deterioration as the wonderfully original early cartoons, made for love of a new medium, morph into baby food through the 30’s and 40’s. The Triplets of Belleville is an attempt to turn back the clock, and it’s telling that it was not popular in the U.S.
I just watched the film again, and I want to make a few more notes about the symbolism. I have to read the mouse-like mafia technician as Mickey Mouse. For me, the HOLLYFOOD photo nails the connection, and the ear covers are pretty convincing too.
Mickey Mouse means Disney. In early decades, Walt Disney was a progressive force in animation, making innovations and raising the bar in both animation technique and storytelling. Today, the Disney corporation has a reputation for high-gloss but bland and standardized family films. A technician, a skilled person who keeps the machinery running smoothly, is the perfect symbol.
Another detail I enjoyed this time around was the way that the house of Madame Souza and Champion is pushed aside and left askew by the railroad. The railroad of course symbolizes progress... and it also, like the bicycle races, symbolizes going around in circles and getting nowhere.
The movie’s technique is to draw numerous implicit connections between its various themes, and leave you to reason out any conclusions on your own. The touch is so light that I think many viewers don’t feel it at all!
Here’s one chain of associations. Food stands for money (the residents of rich Belleville are almost all obese and their state symbol seems to be the Statue of Hamburger; Madame Souza is unable to buy hamburgers without money) which is the driving force of competition (as in the hoopla around the Tour de France but also with reference to Hollyfood) which results in sameness without creativitity (consider the bicycle racers with their bulging leg muscles, but also other identical objects such as the oceangoing ships and the hamburgers) and lazy exploitation (as in the bicycle races both before and after the kidnapping). That’s why the triplets live on unappetizing food.
Another chain of associations starts with machinery, which is associated with both creativity (machines are put to many creative uses in the film) and with lack of creativity (as in the stationary bicycle race).
The film is very complex, and there are some bits I still don’t understand. For example, why is the betting audience all mafia? I haven’t found an explanation that I can convince myself of.
The original version of this essay was written in February 2008.
Updated and posted here July 2008. Addendum March 2011.