Last week, I made the excellent decision to see a movie at the Cameo. It truly is an excellent venue – it’s the first movie theatre I have been to that not only has its own bar, but permits you to take your drink into the movie. A perk that suits me fine. Besides this, the main reason that people in Edinburgh know the Cameo is for the art house films they specialize in.
L’illusioniste was made by Sylvain Chomet, the same director who did belleville rendez-vous (aka les triplettes of belleville) and was set mostly in the Edinburgh of the 1950’s with briefer moments in Paris, London, and the Scottish islands.
Its about an ageing, struggling magician who is slowly being pushed aside in favour of more popular rock and roll acts. His search for work forces him to leave Paris for London, then the Scottish isles, and finally to Edinburgh. While performing at a small village on the Scottish isles, he meets a kind but poor young girl who is enchanted by his illusions. She follows him to Edinburgh where he tries to keep the illusion alive for her by secretly taking menial jobs to subsidize his failing career prospects and to provide her with gifts. Her kindness transforms him over the course of the story and she has almost a cinderella reaction to a few pair of shoes, coats, and dresses.
The animation was amazing. The images they showed of Edinburgh and Scotland in the 1950’s were as good as anything I’ve seen in animation. Its always fun to see places you recognize appear on screen. There was even a scene where the magician accidentally wandered into the Cameo Theatre – when you see something that hits that close, you almost want to turn around to see if he is really there. There was also a scene where he had taken a job performing in a shop window at Jenners, and I’d been there only a couple days before (I actually pass it everyday on my way to work).
I didn’t really have any plans to see a movie that night, but was very happy that I did and also happy that it was a movie with such a local connection. Edinburgh is not really known for being a hot spot of film making, so L’illusioniste is a rare story.
Wright After Reading 