The Periwig-Maker

Siblings Anette (producer)and Steffen (director) Schaffler have created a mesmerizing version of Daniel Defoe's take on the great plague of 1664 in London. Its macabre yet romantic story lends itself perfectly to the extraordinary visuals which wouldn't be out of place in a Tim Burton film. Given that it took the Schafflers 5 years to make their 15 minute animated short (of which 2,5 pre-production) one can imagine how much trouble they took to create their quite astonishing sets. They even went so far as to actually build sets with miniature bricks! In this age of Computer Generated Images it is satisfying to see what effect sheer manual craftsmanship can have on the look of a film. For a great part the sets are responsible for the authenticity of the production. The story handling is sober and the drama never heavy handed. Its rather thoughtful handling of the material might be an obstacle for some of the younger persons in the audience, but I for one enjoyed it very much. I hope Anette and Steffen come up with something new in the near future and hope they take their time producing it!

The plague has hit Europe hard and the death toll rises daily. Locked in his shop to try and evade infection a wigmaker writes in his diary as he watches his city come to a stop. He tries what he can to clean the air in his home but from what he sees there is no spiritual reason for the plague, no punishment from God as some see it but instead a scientific or natural disease that is carried in the air from the skin and from breath. He watches as a young girl across the street starts to fall ill to the plague.

Lacking a firm narrative, this film instead uses the setting of a city affected by the plague to good effect to produce a rather stiff but haunting film. One man sits alone, looking after himself in his home, coldly writing about those outside his walls dying and pontificating on the possible reasons and causes, however he is gradually forced to confront the emotional impact of the deaths as a young girl starts to slip towards certain death. By doing this it shows us the plague but also the humanity of the situation and why we can't just look after number one. It is not totally convincing in how it does this and I didn't totally buy the actions of the man at the end (perhaps he had accepted the inevitable and decided to make it of his own timing) but the point is there.

Branagh is excellent with his voice; his character is such a pale and inexpressive man that it all had to be in the voce and he moves from being cold to understanding very well. The supporting voices are not quite as good but this doesn't matter than much. The animation is impressive with such detail and such good use of the stop-motion technique. Overall an interesting short film. A little bit stiff perhaps but still worth seeing for several reasons.

THE PERIWIG-MAKER is a film about one of the many plagues that racked Europe. This one, I assume was Cholera, as the Black Death had attacked Europe in the 14th century and the film was set in the 17th century. Of course, with so many different plagues, it's really hard to say (as well as quite unnecessary). The film shows the perspective of a wig maker as he watches his neighbors drop off one by one. There is nothing sentimental about this film--instead, it just seems to be a straight and no holds barred retelling of events during this plague.

THE PERIWIG-MAKER is an amazing film to watch--it's animation style is beautiful and captivating even if the subject matter of the film is grim and unpleasant. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film but lost to the sentimental film, FATHER AND DAUGHTER. However, I would have voted for THE PERIWIG-MAKER simply because of its breathtaking animation as well as giving us a historical perspective on the plague. Hmmm....now that I think about it, considering how down-beat this short was as well as how REJECTED (the other nominee that year) were, I can see why the Academy voted as they did. I certainly don't agree with them, but can understand their logic.

Not being a schooled film critic, I'm not entirely certain what to call this kind of animation; but I think of it as a sort of "claymation," and I associate it with the Wallace and Gromit films or, more recently, "Chicken Run." These are, of course, highly entertaining films and technically very impressive. But they're not films one takes as seriously as, say, "The Seventh Seal."

"The Periwig-Maker" shows that this kind of animation can be used for much more serious purposes. The film threw me. I knew from the publicity that it was about the plague; but given the precedent of Wallace and Gromit, I expected a sweet, ultimately upbeat, family-values kind of narrative. Isolated, distrustful man opens his home and his heart to a young girl in need and learns that love triumphs over all obstacles--we've seen this kind of thing before, and that's what I went into this film expecting to see again.

I'm not making any revelations when I say that this movie is DARK. The final voiceover tries to put a positive spin on things by expressing hope for future generations. But still, it's dark. It's heavy. It's about guilt and atonement. It's an art-house film, not "family entertainment." And I'm extremely impressed that the filmmakers managed to accomplish that using this kind of animation. "The Periwig-Maker" is a pioneering film, and I'm eager to see what filmmakers do with this medium in the future.

The dark animation style and music really gave this short a creepy feeling, which I loved. The story was very interesting, but the ending left me with a kind of "that's it?" feeling. The animation may not be incredibly impressive visually, but it works well with the story, which is one of the better stories for an animated short that I've seen. Check out BALANCE (10/10) if you liked this one.

8/10