April And The Extraordinary World

Synopsis:  In 1880, Emperor Napoleon IV is accidentally blown up whilst witnessing an experiment that would provide him with the Ultimate Serum, intended to produce an invincible army but only resulting in making animals talk. From that moment on, however, the world as we know it is changed. By 1931, scientists have been mysteriously disappearing leaving the world bereft of their inventions and discoveries - most notably, electricity. In Paris, which is reliant on coal-burning-steam-power for all its energy, Pops (Jean Rochefort), his son Paul (Olivier Gourmet) and Paul’s wife, Annette (Macha Grenon), are still trying to perfect the Ultimate Serum when their laboratory is raided by the police led by Inspector Pizoni (Bouli Lanners). In the fracas that follows, Pops disappears and Paul and Annette appear to be killed leaving their daughter, April (Marion Cotillard), and Darwin her talking cat (Phillipe Katerine) all alone. Ten years later, April is carrying on the secret work of her parents and grandfather while Pizoni is still trying to find her and Pops with the help of Julius (Marc-André Grondin). But there are other forces afoot and when April gets a mysterious message from Paul, she sets out to find her missing parents.

This adaptation of a graphic novel by Jacques Tardi is a beautifully-rendered piece of old-school animation that re-imagines Paris as a steam-punk city with its own twin-towers - the familiar Eiffel Tower side-by-side with its identical twin. This depiction of a grey, mechanical world with its sky infused by soot and steam underscores the strong environmental themes of the film. Without the advances brought about by the missing scientists, the world is stuck in a kind of nineteenth century stasis. With coal supplies exhausted, energy is drawn from charcoal which has meant the destruction of all the forests, except for one magnificent oak tree now residing in the museum. It’s a bleak prospect that, beneath the mystery and intrigue of the main story, sends a serious message to the real contemporary world. There’s another message here too; that tampering with genetics might easily backfire and blow up in our faces – in the case of Napoleon IV, quite literally.

All this makes the film sound a little didactic which is far from the case. The messages sit well in the background of a lively story that, once its world is established, settles down to focus on April, the capable, assertive and no-nonsense hero of a story that is part mystery, part chase and part thriller with just a dash of romance. It’s a complex story that requires a good deal of attention to keep up with and, aside from a slow patch around the middle, it mostly moves along at a cracking pace. What’s not clear, though, is who is the intended audience. On the surface it has the appearance of a kids’ film but dig deeper and there is much that seems crafted for an adult mind. There is humour, too, mostly in the guise of Darwin’s dry wit and barbed tongue and the inevitable incompetent police force. And there’s a good deal of subtle geopolitical commentary to be had if you care to look for it, with re-imagined France positioned as some sort of superpower, capable of defeating America in a war over control of Canadian forests.

The film’s co-directors both come from strong animation backgrounds - Ekinci’s includes animation work on the 1991/92 television series, The Adventures of Tintin, and Desmars was animation coordinator for Persepolis (2008). Together they have crafted a rich, textured and intelligent tale that, if you can keep up with it, is both entertaining and thought provoking at the same time.

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