Madame Tutli-Putli

National Film Board Of Canada

Released: 2007

Genre: Animated Short, Colour

Directors: Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski

Length: 17 minutes

Website: http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/madame-tutli-putli/film.php 

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey 

5 Stars 

Jungian thriller? Hitchkockean suspense? Artistic tour de force? The night train awaits you. 

So poses the National Film Board Of Canada website these questions about their newest and highly innovative animated short Madame Tutli-Putli. I’ll go a few further and query whether this is an invention from a Tim Burton mind or a recollection of a macabre moment? Is Madame Tutli-Putli a dream within a dream or a train ride within an inner psyche? All I know is that the Jeopardy answer illuminated on the daily double screen would be ‘what is the best animated short of the year?’ Why that’s Madame Tutli-Putli, Alex…thanks for asking.  

Madame Tutli-Putli is an abstract story sequestered to a train trip that Madame Tutli-Putli takes amidst all her belongings and personal fears. I suspicion the film is based in the 1920s and an across Canada train trip. The film is entirely without dialogue, not that you need any apparently, as the characters clearly demonstrated their emotions via action-reaction and non-verbal forms of communication. Madame Tutli-Putli seems as though she wants to make herself small and almost invisible to those around her. She watches others but does not wish to be seen herself on this train journey. Aside from a truly Jungian story that a University paper could be wrote on the symbolism of this film; what is truly evocative about Madame Tutli-Putli is how all elements are pulled together to create a synergistic collaboration of story, character portrayal, musical splendour and visually inspiring imagery. Madame Tutli-Putli is what we call in the industry imaginative! A truly hard feat in this well trod business of stories indeed.  

Madame Tutli-Putli is a stop-motion animated film with puppets and groundbreaking special effects using human eyes computer generated onto the puppets. What results is an eerie portrait of puppets with the emotions of humans, this is another degree of surrealism for the viewer, thus blurring the lines of animation and reality further. Madame Tutli-Putli has also been a favourite on the festival circuit as it has won an award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and won for best animated short at the International Short Film Festival, it is now eligible for the Academy Awards and makes for a strong opposition to any other films eligible for the 2008 Oscars.      

My review is almost as long as the film, but Madame Tutli-Putli is a visually inspiring existentialist, thought-provoking film set to a lingering original score. The film is romantic and grotesque all at once, as if you were watching a beautiful rose wilt and yet still holding the memory of its original splendour. Easily, this film is worth buying off the NFB website at: http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/madame-tutli-putli/madame-tutli-putli-dvd.php  

story and direction Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski of Clyde Henry Productions special visual effects Jason Walker puppets, sets, animation Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski choreography Laurie Maher digital compositing Peter George production assistance Kim Billing Nikki Woolsey Jonathan McCurley Eric Goulem costumes Lea Carlson Laurie Maher character models Laurie Maher Eric Goulem Tao Jiang Terry Yasunaka Maciek Szczerbowski Chris Lavis sound design, foley David Bryant music direction Jean-Frédéric Messier David Bryant sound editing, foley Olivier Calvert assistant sound design Gordon Krieger re-recording Serge Boivin Jean Paul Vialard