The Illusionist by Sylvain Chomet
The Illusionist
(L’Illusionniste)
Directed by Sylvain Chomet
UK & France, 2010
Cornerhouse, 20 August 2010
Still from The Illusionist
An enchanting concoction by Sylvain Chomet, who makes out of Jacques Tati’s script an elegiac meditation about a man who cannot quite bend the world to his will, indeed he barely survives in it.
The illusionist is a stage magician who plays the theatres, music halls and, when all else fails, even the shop windows of old Edinburgh town.
There are some terrific scenes here: the depiction of the magician’s drunken amble, the conceit of giving the pawnbrokers’ shop the name of Brown and Blair, the exuberant etiquette of the acrobatic troupe. And the moments before the magician sat down to eat rabbit stew raised a chuckle or three.
The film should be seen, though, for its atmosphere and mood and for its several incidental pleasures, rather than for the story, which is somewhat slight.
This is a gorgeous animation, wonderful to look at, and while the comedy dances and dalliances with despair, it doesn’t quite succumb.
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