Pachyderme

A woman remembers the summer she spent with her grandparents at their small cottage: how she feared the monsters in the knot holes, how her grandfather would cut the blooms off the vining roses, would take her with him when he went fishing, and how he died.

It's filled with metaphors, from the broken elephant's tusk to the way the narrator disappears into the wall paper as a child. The character and background design is gorgeous and lush, even though it is only partly animated. In terms of scripting, this is the most sophisticated of the animated shorts nominated for an Oscar in 2024, although I believe it is too kind and sentimental to appeal to the voters.

The young "Louise" cuts a rather sad figure playing at the rural home of her grandfather. Alone on the swing chasing a butterfly, and trying to sleep at night in a creaky, quite scary, house where she clearly wants to become invisible. Next day, she is to go swimming whilst her granddad fishes. The lake has almost Avalon-like qualities that seem to cause her to further retreat into herself - before she returns home to yet more curious creaking. In the morning, she awakens to discover that this is likely to be her last visit and as we piece together what we have seen over this last ten minutes - well maybe that's no bad thing. It's a classic style of animation, understated and delicate and the message, I thought subtle but clear.

I watched this w/other Oscar-nominated shorts, took a while to process. But the uneasy atmosphere, the little girl never looked comfortable in what should have been a grandfather's big safe hands, "nothing bad will happen to you here", counting monster eyes instead of sheep, suspected the topic and damn damn so sorry I was right.

She didn't like being left without her parents, normal for a kid, but she was nine and it was an annual holiday. Ten days. Sitting on the swing looking toward the house. Spoilers yet? Can you all out there watch Pachyderme online, or is it possible to see it at independent theaters? I could.

Gentle way to explore two taboo themes.

A girl staying at grandparents in summer.

A horn, wallpapers, cuted roses, a hook stucked in finger of girl . And the big hands of grandfather.

Clues to feel the truth contained by story and its entire bitterness. This makes this short film just great - the wise construction of tension, the construction of feeling about the reality behind symbols , the eyes of little girl and her words.

At the final, you understand the terrible essence of vacantions at grandparents and the identity monster losting its horn.

In same measure, beautiful drawings. And the precise message. In short, just great.

Personal and nostalgic, Stéphanie Clément's "Pachyderme" is a beautifully animated short film that captures the innocence of childhood with such maturity.

The narration and style reminds me of the Academy award nominated short film "Genius Loci" from a few years ago; where the monologues and the visuals are twofold in meaning and symbolism. With so much going on than what we might be led to believe, this short film manages to evoke a sense of loss and loneliness, while at the same time, a feeling of comfort and embrace.

It's beautiful and poetic and deserves all the recognition it has gotten!