Madame Tutli-Putli
Written & directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, Canada, 2007. Approx. 17 minutes.
Madame Tutli-Putli opens on an image that recurs twice more later in the film: moths drawn to a bright light. We are then introduced to Madame Tutli-Putli herself, a thin women with big eyes who appears to be crushed by the weight of her luggage. She boards a train, and for the first few minutes of the film she is subject to the sort of uncomfortable train ride that everyone dreads – old men playing chess glare at her, a young child is unfriendly, and the lecherous man across from her makes unwelcome sexual advances.
But as night falls, the slightly comic atmosphere completely fades away in favor of a dark, foreboding one. Madame Tutli-Putli is the only passenger left awake when the train stops for the night, and therefore the only one to notice when a band of mysterious creatures boards the train and releases a mysterious green gas. She awakes later to find that all of her possessions, and all of the other passengers, have gone missing. Madame Tutli-Putli runs through the empty, now fast-moving train, breathless and terrified, until she comes upon the moth that she saw earlier. The moth flies into a bright light and transforms into a human-esque figure; then the film ends on a shot of a silent forest.
What I loved about Madame Tutli-Putli is that it manages to be completely engrossing for 17 minutes without a single word of dialogue. This can be attributed to several factors, but the most important one is the quality of the animation. The film is beautiful and intricately detailed, from the corridors of the train down to the dainty gloves on Madame Tutli-Putli’s hands. It’s also very atmospheric, beginning with warm, dusty colors that evoke the title character’s melancholy and ending with cooler colors that better reflect her uncertainty and fear. Although the film was actually made with stop-motion animation, the movement is usually so seamless it almost looks computer-animated.
Interestingly, some of the film is computer-animated. All of the human eyes on the puppets are real human eyes, filmed and then digitally-inserted onto the puppets. Madame Tutli-Putli’s eyes are essential to the character; she does not express herself in words, so the subtleties of her face must be able to convey everything she’s feeling. The eyes humanize Madame Tutli-Putli and allow us to empathize with her in a way that animated eyes cannot.
Madame Tutli-Putli was nominated for the Best Animated Short at the 2008 Academy Awards, but did not win, which is unfortunate for the filmmakers considering it took them over 2 years just to shoot the film, and even more time to build the sets and then do the editing and special effects.
As for the story itself, I’m not sure exactly what to think. The final image of the moth-human in the light indicates to me that Madame Tutli-Putli has died, in which case I guess the train would symbolize her life. But what are the creatures that invade the train, and what happened to all the other passengers? What exactly happened after the green gas was released? Somebody help me out here please!
Nice film. It seems like a lot of great alternative animation is coming out of Canada (I also liked Ryan). On the YouTube comments page, there's a lot of back and forth about the meaning. My interpretation is that it's a look at the pitfalls of materialism and individualism (even the boy is reading a book about "defeating your enemies") and about our constant conflict with nature. The main character surrounds herself with things and at arm's length from the other people on the train. Eventually the forest creatures (the world) stops the train and swallows everything.
ReplyDeleteThe puppets looked practically wooden. I mean that as a compliment. It lended a very painted, still-life quality to the animation. Coupled with the camera movement, it helped make the scenes where there was no animation to really POP.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when I get bored I play mario on the game box.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved this film, I thought the lack of dialogue made it appeal more to the other senses. Of course, sight in particular which I thought the creators were playing to with the inclusion of such realistic eyes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ending... I was as clueless as you. But beautiful nonetheless.
Really beautiful film- the attention to detail and the length of time that it took to make the film makes me think that EVERY moment is significant in some way. In particular i was wondering what the contrast between the vast amount of baggage that we see when Madame Tutli Putli boards the train, and the last scene when she dies (?) without any baggage at all- even a hat- means...
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting film, kind of trippy though with the mix of animation, puppet, and human features on the characters. I can't say I liked it that much but it did keep me curious and involved until the end...which didn't really end. The human eyes were a cool touch, very humanizing for the character.
ReplyDeleteUndoubtedly one of my favorite shorts we watched this semester, a large portion of which can be attributed to the methods of construction used to bring these characters to life. It's somewhat surprising that metaphorical filmmaking like this could attract an Academy Award nomination, but isn't the Academy always full of surprises?
ReplyDeleteI totally love the first half of this film, but the plot kind of loses me halfway through. Even so, the animation is great all throughout, even at the times when I'm not sure what the hell is going on.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of the film are the two men playing chess. I wonder if they are part of ther baggage, after all they are sitting on the suitcases, they look like they just popped out them. Are they men from her past, that she's trying to pack away?
ReplyDeleteI also love the weathered texture in her face and hands.
The opening sequence reminds me of the Brave Little Toaster.
ReplyDeletePamela, I love that idea of the chess players' significance. I know someone writing in the YouTube comments for this one suggested that their chess game, which ends without anyone ever making a move, is meant to represent fate. But who knows.
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