| The Triplets of Belleville | |
| Native Name: | |
| Director: | Sylvain Chomet |
| Music: | Ben Charest |
| Runtime: | 78 minutes |
| Budget: | $9.5 million[1] |
| Gross: | $14.8 million[2] |
The Triplets of Belleville (French: '''Les Triplettes de Belleville''') is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet.[3] It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The film is Chomet's first feature film and was an international co-production among companies in France, Belgium, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The film features the voices of Lina Boudreault, Mari-Lou Gauthier, Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin, and Monica Viegas. There is little dialogue; much of the narrative is conveyed through song and pantomime. It tells the story of Madame Souza, an elderly woman who goes on a quest to rescue her grandson Champion, a Tour de France cyclist, who has been kidnapped by the French mafia for gambling purposes and taken to the city of Belleville (an amalgam of Paris, New York City, Montreal and Quebec City[4]). She is accompanied by Champion's loyal and obese hound, Bruno, and joined by the Triplets of Belleville, music hall singers from the 1930s, whom she meets in the city.
The film was highly praised by audiences and critics for its unique style of animation and has since gained a cult following.[5] The film was nominated for two Academy Awards—Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "Belleville Rendez-vous". It was also screened out of competition (hors concours) at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.[6]
In France, Madame Souza is raising her grandson Champion, a melancholy orphan. They watch an old variety show on television featuring a trio of singers, the Triplets of Belleville (Rose, Blanche, and Violette). When the program is interrupted, Souza asks Champion if the "film" is finished. The listless Champion does not reply and instead changes the channel to a piano concert. Souza, seeing Champion's interest in the music, pulls out an old piano and tries to amuse him, but Champion remains indifferent. She deduces that Champion is lonely and buys him a dog, Bruno. Neither Bruno nor an electric train set succeed in lifting Champion's spirits, and the dog has no interests apart from eating, sleeping, and barking at trains.
While tidying Champion's room, Souza discovers a book filled with photos of cyclists. She buys Champion a tricycle, and he becomes an obsessive cyclist. Some years later he is competing in the Tour de France, when he is kidnapped by a pair of mobsters in a Citroën Van. They take him and two other contestants across the Atlantic, Souza pursuing them on a pedalo.
Arriving in the United States penniless and hungry, Souza and the obese Bruno are adopted by the Triplets of Belleville, now elderly, and taken to their seedy apartment. When dinner is finally served, it consists of frog soup and frog stew, with tadpoles for dessert, collected by Violette using "expanding bait". Souza joins their band, playing bicycle spokes like a dulcimer, to their refrigerator-shelf harp, newspaper percussion and vacuum-cleaner bagpipe. During the show, Souza spots the kidnappers. With the help of the Triplets, Souza rescues the cyclists, who had been forced to pedal-power a gambling machine, and escape on the pedaling frame, pursued by the mobsters in Citroën sedans.
In a flashforward, an older Champion watches the TV again showing their adventure when they are leaving the city and remembers Souza asking once more if the film is finished. Champion turns to the empty bench next to him and says "It's over, Grandma".
In a humorous post-credits scene, the boatman who rented Souza the pedalo is seen patiently waiting for his vessel to return.
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that of surveyed critics gave it a positive review, and the average rating was ; the consensus reads: "Richly detailed and loaded with surreal touches, The Triplets of Belleville is an odd, delightful charmer."[7] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score, rated it 91/100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[8]
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: for Best Animated Feature, making it the first PG-13 animated film to be nominated in that category; and for Best Original Song (Benoît Charest and Sylvain Chomet for the song "Belleville Rendez-vous", sung by Matthieu Chedid in the original version). The film lost the Best Animated Feature award to Finding Nemo. It also won the César for Best Film Music,[9] and as a co-production with Canada it won the Genie Award for Best Motion Picture[10] and the BBC Four World Cinema Award in 2004.[11]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | February 29, 2004 | Best Animated Feature | Sylvain Chomet | |
| Best Original Song | Benoît Charest (music) & Sylvain Chomet (lyrics) (for Belleville Rendez-vous) | |||
| Annie Awards | February 7, 2004 | Best Animated Feature | The Triplets of Belleville | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Directing in a Feature Production | Sylvain Chomet | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Writing in a Feature Production | ||||
| Critics Choice Awards | January 10, 2004 | Best Animated Feature | Sylvain Chomet | |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | January 7, 2004 | Best Animated Film | Sylvain Chomet | |
| Best Music | Benoît Charest | |||
| New York Film Critics Circle | January 11, 2004 | Best Animated Film | The Triplets of Belleville | |
| Online Film Critics Society Awards | January 5, 2004 | Best Animated Film | Sylvain Chomet | |
| Best Foreign Language Film | The Triplets of Belleville | |||
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | December 18, 2003 | Best Animated Film | The Triplets of Belleville | |
| Satellite Awards | February 21, 2004 | Best Animated or Mixed Media Film | The Triplets of Belleville | |
| Toronto Film Critics Association Awards | December 16, 2004 | Best Animated Film | The Triplets of Belleville | |
| Best Canadian Film |