The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa

Une traduction dans le langage de l'animation de l'univers kafkaïen de La Métamorphose, ou comment M. Samsa, s'étant réveillé un matin sous la forme d'un insecte repoussant, connut la souffrance de la réclusion et celle d'être rejeté de ceux dont il avait jusqu'alors partagé l'existence. Film sans paroles.

This award-winning animation film spares no feelings and minces no words. A poignant interpretation of a short story by Montréal author Mordecai Richler, it makes what is sometimes an embarrassingly frank statement about how many families respond to their old and infirm members. In soft simple washes of watercolour and ink, the filmmaker interprets reactions to a dying grandmother, capturing family feelings and distilling them into harsh reality.

In this Inuit legend it is plausible enough that a goose should capture the fancy of an owl and that the owl should be quite bewildered by what follows. The sound effects and voices are Inuktitut, but the animated pictures leave no doubt as to the happenings that transpire. It is a story with the wry humour characteristic of many Inuit tales, for audiences young or old.