Sylvain Chomet, the tremendous and skilled animator who created such masterful works as The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, has a new release, A Magnificent Life. The film is sweet, nostalgic, and genuinely lovely to look at, and follows Pagnol, a playwright, novelist, and filmmaker. A rather imaginative plot device unfolds: he interacts with a younger version of himself, shifting between the past and the present. Memories are visualized, all forming a conversation between his present self and his past. “Memoir? You need memories for that.” The words land with quiet irony as the main character reflects on the ups and downs of his career and personal life.
The animation style is the strongest element of A Magnificent Life. Chomet’s hand-drawn style remains a singular, not to mention rare, achievement in contemporary cinema, and his work here confirms that animation is his deepest creative gift, bordering on a fully realized auteur signature. One of the film’s most fascinating choices is the splicing of actual archival live-action footage into the animated world, a dazzling collection of textures that gives the biography a strange and haunting authenticity, even if the palette can be muted. Stefano Bollani’s musical score is warm and pleasant throughout, wrapping the story in the kind of nostalgic glow the era deserves.
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And yet something holds the film back. Where Belleville was vivid, alive, and bonkers (it still scares my younger siblings to this day), A Magnificent Life leans toward bio-pic restraint, even as its unconventional storytelling remains. This format runs counter to Chomet’s instincts; the plot structure is rather conventional, the story somewhat tedious, and that blandness is jarring given how rich the animation looks. And you visually get lost in it. Those visuals are lush and accomplished, but the narrative never quite matches the energy of what you see on screen. With a lot of plot to cover in a rather short runtime, Chomet handles the epic sweep of Pagnol’s life with grand admiration and obvious affection for the main character. Yet, it still feels disconnected from itself.
Despite the shortcomings, Sylvain Chomet remains a remarkable visual storyteller, and there is genuine cozy warmth in every moment. I remember watching this late last year; it was a pleasant watch, but a letdown given the director involved. We don’t get a Sylvain Chomet movie often, so I am thankful for this one and hope to see more.
A Magnificent Life is now playing in limited release.
