J'ai perdu mon corps

Arty French animation "I Lost My Body" contains some lovely imagery, and others have applauded it for its poetic dramatization, but I want to focus on its clever self-reflexive construction. The story involves a character whose hand is severed, whereupon the plot mostly assumes a dual focus of that character with his remaining body and of that of his disembodied limb, the latter of which assumes an independent agency and movement. There's also a girl, who plays an important role in one respect, but the hero's journey is predominantly concerned with the boy and the hand. The foundational obstacle for both the boy and hand is to overcome a past tragedy of separation: the death of the boy's parents and, in the other case, the loss of the hand's body. All of which is congruent with the picture's self-referential pulse of the disconnection of modern animated movies, such as this one, from traditional hand-drawn animated cinema.

This is more than a handy pun. Most of the primary elements of creating animation are included in the narrative. It has music--the boy's mother played the cello, and he and a blind man play the piano. The boy also collected audio on a cassette recorder (a device which also serves a critical function in the overcoming of the heroes' obstacles). Also notice the focus in the story on disembodied dialogue (e.g. the pizza delivery scene), which is what voice acting consists of, and on sound effects (e.g. the sound of wind from pressing one's hand to their ear). Besides the promise of a generic romantic coupling, the girl's role here also is in the writing department. She's a librarian and recommends to him a novel, "The World According to Garp," which itself is a piece of multi-layered, self-referential fiction about a writer and writing. Additionally, the boy borrows books about igloos from the library, which provides him with inspiration for his architectural designs. Thus, we have design (architectural and written), a soundtrack and a score. All that's left is to build the visuals of the animation. For that, he becomes a carpenter's apprentice--using, as his employer gives a helping hand, tools, accessories and instruments to transform the material, wood, which comes from the same stuff the paper animators used to draw films on did.

Note that only then does the hand's separate story begin, from an "accident" of carpentry. Film is a process of reanimation; in live action especially, but also, through inspiration or as reference, in animation as well, film captures something alive--something animated--then kills and makes it inanimate as still images before, finally, reanimating what was once captured as the projected (or Netflix streamed, as the case may be) motion picture that the spectator views. Likewise, the hand's individual adventure begins when he is captured by the electric saw; next, the hand lies dead before becoming reanimated as something entirely different from what it once was. In other words, the disembodied hand here is a metaphor for film and, specifically, animated film. It's the film-within-the-film, the hand's journey nested between the outer story of the boy's making of that story, along with the girl as being something of our on-screen surrogate spectator.

Unlike in live action, these drawn compositions don't necessitate a physical camera. This provides a free hand to the perspective of the picture, the theoretical camera's eye, which in turn becomes the spectator's shared vantage point, to be limited only by the filmmakers' imagination. The handling of that camera here is where "I Lost My Body" most excels visually in my estimation. In addition to alternating between color and black-and-white palettes and 2D and 3D computer animation, there's some shifting in perspectives. We and the camera are sometimes like a fly--oblivious, perhaps, to the characters when we're at a distance on a wall, but a nuisance when we swoop in or rest too close upon them. Other times, we share the point of view of this or that character--both what they see in the outside world and, through memories and fantasies, what they imagine with their mind's eye. At one point, we're just a disembodied eyeball resting on a floor. We may even be a reflection in a subway mirror as we witness a hand hiding under a ravioli can scurrying by. (By the way, does anyone else sense a dig at Pixar--specifically "Ratatouille" (2007) with this sequence involving rats, but with other scenes, too, such as floating through the wind (albeit it with an umbrella instead of balloons) between cars, and I can't think of any better reason for the astronaut business here. It would be fitting since, after all, Pixar largely killed traditional animation.)

Even better here is the attempt, which seems specifically more suited to animation because of how it's made, to expand the sensory stimuli by adding texture and a motif of the hand feeling the physical world around it. We experience movies, to paraphrase Charlie Chaplin, as movement, two planes and a suggestion of depth; it's something we've always seen and, later, also heard. Of course, we also feel emotionally and physically in response to the audio-visual experience. Thus, sure, "I Lost My Body" is touching, but, moreover, its tactile focus, hand-in-hand with its self-reflexive framework, almost gives the impression that it's a movie we can feel, to reach out and touch back.

'I Lost My Body (2018)' is an unconventional experience, more of a poem than a traditional film. It mixes the surreal with the mundane; intertwines the past with the present. Somehow, its disparate elements come together to form one complete whole. It's surprisingly nuanced, as successful in its relationship drama as in its five-fingered antics. It's strangely satisfying, too. Its wonderful animation, realist aesthetic and almost ethereal main theme all add up to an experience that's as bizarre as it is beautiful. It's difficult to explain how but the piece undeniably finds a real sense of poignancy. It's remarkable, really. Of course, its 'arty' nature is likely to put off a good chunk of its audience; it isn't as straightforward as its premise would suggest, after all. Yet, the flick is all the better for it. It's genuinely affecting in a subtle but significant way. It's pretty great, even if it isn't always massively entertaining. 7/10

I Lost My Body is a captivating watch thanks mainly to the incredibly textured animation, but unfortunately I felt a little let down by the narrative which just seemed to go nowhere with no obvious resolution. Told through present day and two different periods of flash back we follow the hand of Naoufel which is desperate to reconnect with its owner after an accident. Prior to his accident we are drip fed information that Naoufel has had a tumultuous upbringing losing his parents in a car accident, growing up with an unloving foster parent whilst working unsuccessfully as a pizza delivery man instead of his early ambition to be a pianist or astronaut. It resonates for sure (I wanted to be a pilot or illustrator growing up, neither fulfilled like Naoufel). But after a failed pizza delivery his focus is given clarity in the form of Gabrielle. All the narrative jumps back and forth to weave the narrative together but its in the final act when the timelines converge that unfortunately Director Jérémy Clapin gave me no satisfying closure. I don't mind ambiguity in a film but this just seemed to peeter out without resolution. Undeniably the animation is mesmerising. Every frame is wonderfully drawn with texture on every surface, unlike many animated films which solely rely on one layer of shading to give form to a 2D image. The movement of the hand is also superb giving it a personality of its own as it goes on an urban assault course, avoiding both human and animal peril in order to find it's host. The music by Dan Levy is also brilliant and almost hypnotic adding atmosphere to the proceedings. Although not a perfect film I Lost My Body is a beautifully crafted animated film that might be more rewarding on repeat viewings but initially is somewhat of a disappointment due to it's ending.

I typically take a lot of notes while watching movies at home as it helps jog my memory if I wait a few weeks before I put out a "review" of the film. With I Lost My Body, I found myself completely entranced in the film and stopped looking down at my notebook after 15-20 minutes. Beautifully animated and a wonderfully strung together story, this is one of the best animated films of the last 10 years. One of the few absolute wins coming from original Netflix films. And that score by Dan Levy....that score!

9.4/10

A masterpiece out of left field. Rich, layered, lean...devastating