THE STORY – In rural France, Christophe (10) tries to live up to his rigid and distant father on the family farm. But the young boy starts to lean over and collapse without warning – on the tractor, at school, at dinner… A doctor finds the solution: Christophe must wear an iron corset to keep himself upright. Forced to reinvent his life away from the farm, Christophe discovers a new passion for music, meets a new friend, and follows her into his first mischief. But will any of this really fix what is out of balance?
THE CAST – Alexandre Astier, Dimitri Colas, Gary Clichy, Brune Moulin, Rod Paradot, Aurélie Vassort & Jean-Pascal Zadi
THE TEAM – Louis Clichy (Director/Writer) & Franck Salomé (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 89 Minutes
Animation has long held a place in the Cannes competition, and with the likes of “Flow” from a few years ago, there’s been much anticipation for another work that can match that film’s artistry and impact. Programmed within the Un Certain Regard competitive section, “Iron Boy” follows “Flow’s” critical trajectory, and with its hand-drawn aesthetic, bucolic setting, and tale of childhood affection and affliction, this film may prove to have a similar breakthrough.
Helmed by former Pixar pro Louis Clichy, and based in part on his own rural background and childhood need to wear a metal brace to fix his posture, which gives the film its title, this is a warm yet slightly sardonic look at a precocious child’s struggles, mirrored by a farming family forced to confront the economic realities of their situation.
We meet the film’s central character, Christophe (voiced by Clichy’s own son, Gary), as he’s having his school photograph taken. While sitting for his portrait, he begins to lean to the right, seemingly unaware of his literal chance in vertical perspective. It’s written off as either petulance or simply laziness. Still, it’s soon seen that the child has a spinal condition that needs to be ameliorated through the use of a metal corset to encourage the bones to more properly align.
This central metaphor, in which the slightly bent or offset is forced to conform to a more conventional, straight-laced posture, provides much of the film’s subtle interplay between youthful indiscretions and more stubbornly selfish behaviors. Co-written with Clichy and Franck Salomé, the script deftly blended documentary-like realism with moments of wild fantasy, the hand-sculpted aesthetic literally sketching the outlines of given situations while allowing space for interpretation.
We see Christophe gain interest in musicianship thanks to the kindness of a local organ player, and it’s in the precise performances of these pieces of religious and musical exuberance that the character rises above his bodily restrictions. Similarly, the tentative connection between Christophe and Clara (Brune Moulin), a rambunctious young girl who sees an opportunity to use the metal framework to feed her mildly criminal proclivities. The two offbeat outsiders soon find a deeper connection, yet the way the film teases this out is done with deftness and a refusal to let it happen too easily.
In contrast, there’s real conflict between Christophe and his family, including a boorish father dismissive of his middle child’s wants and desires. The film does a wonderful job of making the father’s struggles, including how he himself gave up his passions for the good of the family, understandable, if not always defensible.
Clichy spent years working on 3D animation at Pixar on films like “Wall-E,” and yet the most 3-dimensional aspect of this particular film, given its aesthetic, is the way its characters are narratively drawn. The sketch-like look and boisterous voice performances remove the glossiness that’s often endemic to computer animation, but it’s the way the various characters are given space to develop and be understood that makes the film that much more exceptional.
While not every aspect coalesces nearly as neatly as desired, and some of the film suffers from the autobiographic elements whereby the filmmakers are clearly absorbed by their intrinsic empathy for given characters without always taking the time to develop it for audiences outside their creative silo, there’s still plenty to admire about “Iron Boy’s” finished form. Emotionally rich, narratively confident, and visually compelling, this is one of the better films of this year’s competitive selection, one that just happens to be so carefully drawn and crafted as to require the modality of animation to make its point.
