L’illusionniste is the newest film by Sylvain Chomet, based on a script by Jacques Tati.

Plot:
A struggling French magician follows a job to Scotland. In the Highlands, he meets a young girl who believes him to be really magical. She kind of insinuates herself into his life and they end up in Edinburgh together where the Magician tries to do everything to keep her belief in real magic alive.

The film is visually stunning and has a very touching, bittersweet storyline. Plus, it’s a nice exploration of the undervalued father-daughter-relationship. In short, it’s incredibly wonderful.

I have never seen a Tati movie (Yes. Bad cineast! Go stand in the corner!), but after having seen this one I wonder why he is considered a funny guy. The story is, at best, bittersweet but mostly it’s really, really sad. Yes, there are jokes and funny moments but they are only moments.

Chomet’s style and animation lends itself wonderfully to this mood. The vision of Edinburgh that he creates alone would make it worth to see this film. I have never seen an image of Edinburgh that captures this city as much as this one.

But the movie has so much more to offer than only Edinburgh. The character designs are beautiful, the animation is beautiful and the whole film is just absolutely stunning.

The movie makes do without dialogue. There is some talking, but it’s practically not understandable and basically only a stand-in because people do talk. But the movie does its speaking through its images and the wonderful soundtrack (also by Sylvain Chomet who apparently can do any- and everything). And with that course of action, it conjures up a very peculiar and very enjoyable atmosphere.

Summarising: Watch it. And then watch The Triplets of Belleville.