The Triplets of Belleville
What did I just watch?
The Triplets of Belleville (2003) defies description. It’s an animated French film that barely uses dialogue but speaks volumes through its surreal, exaggerated visuals. Directed by Sylvain Chomet, it tells the story of Madame Souza, a determined grandmother who embarks on a rescue mission after her cyclist grandson Champion is kidnapped during the Tour de France. Along the way, she enlists the help of three aging vaudeville singers, the eponymous Triplets of Belleville, who may be past their prime but still have plenty of pep in their step.
This is not the kind of animated film where everything is rounded and cute. The characters are drawn with strange proportions, noses too large, legs stretched out like rubber, and jaws that seem to go on forever. There is nudity. (Gasp.) The city of Belleville itself looks like Paris through a semi-grotesque funhouse mirror, and the villains, mobsters who are real squares, are as absurd as they are threatening. Chomet’s style is grotesque, yes, but it’s also affectionate, as though he’s celebrating the quirks of human bodies and urban life rather than hiding them.
The lack of dialogue makes the film universal. A bark from the dog Bruno (whose dreams are entirely about trains) or the wheeze of the Triplets’ kitchen-band instruments conveys more than any speech could. Sound is everything here: the rhythmic tapping of shoes, the percussive clatter of junkyard instruments, the wheezy, jazzy soundtrack. It’s a reminder that music and movement can carry a story just as powerfully as words, and as crazy as it is that this movie is now over 20 years old, folks who enjoyed the recent film Flow (2024) will find a lot to like here.
Thematically, the film has a lot to say about obsession and resilience. Champion pedals until his body looks like a machine; Madame Souza trains him with a whistle, a metronome, and eventually a vacuum cleaner strapped to his bike. The Triplets survive their twilight years by banging on whatever they can find to keep their music alive. Everyone is bent, stretched, or worn down by their pursuits, yet there’s an obvious dignity in the way they keep going, and a clear affection for life despite the toll it takes on us; despite how ugly it can seem at times.
In the early 2000s, when animation was dominated by CGI gloss, The Triplets of Belleville felt like a throwback to a stranger, more handmade world. It’s weird, tender, funny, and deeply original. Chomet reminds us that animation isn’t just for children or even just for stories of fantasy. It can be grotesque and melancholy, filled with characters who look broken but are stubbornly alive. It’s a movie that makes you ask, in the best way, What did I just watch?
The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville)
Written and directed by Sylvain Chomet
2003
80 minutes
French
Recommended way to watch (at time of publication): Streaming on Max
You’ll like this if you like: City of Lost Children (1995), Persepolis (2007), Fantastic Planet (1973), Flow (2024)