Malvern French Film Centre – LE ROI ET L’OISEAU
LE ROI ET L’OISEAU
Sunday 17th May ’20 at 7pm
1980 (U) – colour 83 mins (animation/fantasy)
Paul Grimault
What is now regarded as a masterpiece of French animation, began life in 1948, as The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep (loosely based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen) but was not completed until 1980. It’s a true explosion of fantasy that will capture a child’s imagination, but will also fascinate adults. The basic plot involves a chimney sweep and a shepherdess seeking to escape from the clutches of a tyrannical king. The whole film, though, is a metaphor of what power can do to people. It shows how love and freedom can never be suppressed.
Prix Louis Delluc 1979: Paul Grimault – director