L‟ILLUSIONNISTEdirected by Sylvain Chomet, 2010

written by Jacques Tati, 1956

Presented By:

Viet Block

Adreanne Manalang

Alyssa Stonelake

Daniel West

CONTRIBUTIONS BY:

Introduction Film & Topic

Contributions

PowerPoint Designer

Adreanne Manalang

Theme

Storyline

Style

Daniel West

Background Information

History

Character Analysis

Alyssa Stonelake

Cultural Aspects

Video Clip

Discussion Questions

Viet Block

JACQUES TATISCHEFF

Writer of L'Illusionniste, 1956

a French filmmaker, comic, actor, writer

and director.

Jacques Tati's response to his shame of abandoning his first child during World

War II.

Wrote “L‟Illusionniste” in attempt to reconnect with eldest daughter, Helga

Marie-Jeanne Schiel.

BAC KG RO U N D I N F O : JAC QU E S TAT I

His real name was Jacques Tatischeff and born

on October 9th, 1908 in Yvelines in France

More into sports like rugby, tennis and boxing

Got into acting on stage because in changing

rooms he would "mime his sporting activities to

his team mates"

Started appearing in shows in Paris' theatres

and musical halls in 1930 creating big success

Had a daughter in 1943 named Helga Marie-

Jeanne who he abandoned during World War II

He also had another daughter named Sophie

Tatischeff in 1946.

HISTORY OF JACQU ES TATI

He was tormented during the 50's because he felt guilty of leaving behind

Helga in the 40's but also didn't come to her rescue when she wrote to him

having been in the center of the Christmas Eve bombing during the Moroccan

1955 uprising.

He had two other unproduced scripts along with l'Illusionniste including one

written about The Occupation of Berlin and Confusion

His last project was Confusion yet it had to end early on stage because of him

dying on November 5th, 1982 in Paris from pulmonary embolism and in debt

JACQUES TATI‟S CAREER:

• His films were usually "characteristically plot-less

physical comedies, sometimes resembling silent

comedies of the 1920's" according to James Travers &

tried to not offend anyone or be obviously political so

his films could be seen anywhere

• Two of his famous short films, Oscar Champion De

Tennis & Soigne ton gauche

• Wanted to create Jour De Fete a short film of his into

color, but his thoughts were ahead of the technology

• 1958 he directed Mon Oncle which won a Jury Prize in

Cannes in France and an Academy Award in America.

• Playtime in 1967 was too ambitious of his and failed to

live to his standards in cinemas

SYLVAIN CHOMET

Creator of L’Illusioniste, 2010

·In June 2010 during an interview, Chomet‟s motive and personal reasons for pursuing

“L‟Illusionniste” were:

"I have two young children, a four-year-old and a two-year-old. But I

also have a daughter who is 17 who I don't live with because I separated

from her mother. She was 12 when I started the project and you can feel

things changing."

·It appears to be, that Chomet mirrors the regret of a broken father-child-relationship that

Tati had with his daughter Helga Marie-Jeanne Schiel.

BEHIND THE SCENES:

Sophie Tatischeff gave the script of The Illusionist to Chomet, yet his grandson Richard

McDonald explained the backstory

Originally the movie was written that the illusionist travels to a small town in Czechoslovakia

where he meets the girl and takes her to Prague; Chomet changes it to Edinburgh, Scotland

Chomet comments to Herald Scotland that:

"When I came for the premiere of "Bellville" in 2003, I took the train from my home in France to

Edinburgh with my daughter... We arrived and I thought it was the most beautiful city I had ever

seen... There's something about the constantly changing light that is magical."

C O N T I N UAT I O N :

The original story explains how the girl doesn't know that the illusionist magic is

fake until her boyfriend exposes him of his fake magic

He leaves the girl behind because he could not win the affections of the girl

again and now is free of his life deceit as a conjurer

In real life he does take on a father daughter relationship to a girl named Natalie

According to Robert Ebert who interviewed Richard McDonald:

"The very title, "l'Illusionniste," illustrates how Tati was aware at how his public

persona was a veil that contradicted the real man. Conjurers by their very craft are

deceitful."

VIDEO CLIPS OF “THE

ILLUSIONIST”

Tough Crowd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lmsukmz3QQE

Fat Lady Singing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d7OeDwkfTg&list=PL9D7B0AAB3687C965

Exploring Edinburgh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSgNZ6R5Rbg&list=PL9D7B0AAB3687C965

Rabbit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturevideo/filmvideo/film-

clips/7953946/The-Illusionist-Clip-Rabbit.html

INTRO TO CHARACTERS

TATISCHEFF A classic French man desiring to keep his dream of being

an illusionist alive due to other forms of entertainment is the

protagonist of The Illusionist. Respect is important to him,

respecting all and hopes to get it back. He travels around in

order to avoid being outshined which is how he becomes a

father figure to Alice. He impresses her with his magic and

takes her under his wing by buying gifts for her while they

travel together. At times he fails to be a father due to trying

to help Alice with by buying nice clothes. Sadly, he pushes

her away unintentionally and leaves her when he realizes that

his dream is gone which he had to sell his magic kit, sets free

his bunny and leaves for somewhere else looking at a photo

that carries with him in the movie.

CHARACTER:

ALICE

Alice is a young girl that meets Tatischeff when he

travels to a small town in Scotland. She is fascinated by the

world of magic that Tatischeff brought to the small town

and is seen as a daughter to Tatischeff. She is a very kind and

friendly girl everyone: Tatischeff, the bunny and a group of

entertainers. A flaw of Alice's, however, is that she is naïve

about the world outside her small town on an island of

Scotland. She is admired by very expensive items and desires

to own them yet she doesn‟t realize that they are expensive

due to her upbringing on the island. She does meet a

handsome man at the end and decides to live with him when

Tatischeff leaves her with money and a note.

CHARACTER:

THE BUNNY This grumpy bunny resists Tatischeff by not wanting

to go into the hat, biting him or anyone that comes near

him and tries to hide. One point of time he is recaptured

by a stage manager with a net and tries to bite both of

them. When Alice meets him, he actually bites her when

she sees him in his cage at first. He does change though

throughout the movie because of Alice‟s kindness towards

the bunny. The main scene of the bunny is at the very end

when Tatischeff recaptures the bunny in the cage and

brings him to a hill where there are other bunnies. He

decides to let the bunny go on the hill and when he leaves,

the bunny watches him go with a questioned look. Even

though the bunny is a small, supportive character, his

presence in the movie brings up lots of representations and

different interpretations.

STORYL INE OF L‟ IL LU SIONNISTE

The Illusionist (Tatischeff), is part of a dying breed of stage

performers. During the early 1950’s the art of illusion, and

miming were becoming outdated and overrun by the

emerging rock and roll culture. Because of this, Tatischeff

starts taking obscure gigs at far away events, small cafes,

and dive bars. These small performances soon tale the

illusionist to the coast of Scotland, where technology is

lacking (they barely have electricity). This is where the

Tatischeffmeets Alice, a young woman who soon becomes a

big part of his life.

… C O N T I N UA T I O N

Alice is a worker at the local inn where Tatischeffis performing.

He notices that the family is quite poor and Alice could make use of a

new pair of shoes. After purchasing her shoes at a local store, he

leads her, and the rest of the children at the in to believe that he can

make material possessions appear from nothing.. Alice therefore

believes that his tricks are real magic.

Alice proceeds to stow away on the ship that brings Tatischeff

back to Edinburgh. Here they fall into a Father/Daughter relationship

and bond over small acts of kindness.

… . C O N T I N UA T I O N

As Alice grows, the Illusionist gets older. She falls in love

with a neighbor, and becomes less and less interested in

Tatischeff’s magic. He soon reveals his secret, and goes on

living a life alone where he is a much wiser man because of

his experience with his experience as a magician, and

especially because of his interactions with Alice.

Tatischeff begins working locally at a small theatre while

Alice cooks, and cleans up up the house. As this proceeds,

the illusionist continues to give Alice lavish gifts. She still

believes his tricks are real magic.

The Cold War began after World War II

1950's: Rock n' Roll music like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and

Ray Charles become popular and films in theaters grew in popularity

1952: Elizabeth II succeeds George VI for the UK

1954: French Indochina began to fall and retreated from Vietnam

1955: Commercial television starts with first ITV broadcast in the UK

1956: Last tram runs in Edinburgh, Scotland

During 1958-1961, The Berlin Crisis was occurring in which Russia gave an

ultimatum to France, Britain and the US to leave West Berlin

UNITED KINGDOM &

FRANCE IN THE 1950‟S

D W I N D L I N G P O P U L A R I T Y O F S TA G E

M A G I C : B E I N G TA K E N O V E R B Y

M O D E R N E N T E RTA I N M E N T

• Stage performance was

very popular until the

rise of the Rock and Roll

movement of the 1950‟s.

• Music, as well as modern

film, diminished the

popularity of stage

performers.

HISTORY OF

ILLUSION

• Magicians or Illusionists have been popular

even back in Egyptian times yet became

popular in the 1700's

• For a while, illusionists performed mostly at

fairs, yet they became less popular forcing

them to head to the cities

• To make them more popular, illusionists

added in the late 18th century science into

their illusions and held lectures about science

then performed their tricks

• Science is what drew in the upper class

because of that concert halls were built for

them and other forms of entertainment

IL LU SION:

- The next stage was that their shows had to change because

of them being stationary in cities. Some illusionists would

perform a short show and go on the road for years with the

show while others had different shows that they would change

- Even before 1950's, this form of entertainment was already

under threat of dying in the mid-30's because of films

- The Illusionist shows this with rock n' roll music instead of

movies and television on how some illusionists can survive the

new generation while some are unlucky in the business like

Tatischeff

IL LU SION:

Some illusionists decided to hop on board with the movies by moving their business

to the big screen or the little screen at home when televisions were becoming popular

This helped magic to stay alive for the next generation

"Gifted with intelligence, curiosity, and imagination, one can wonder how the world might have changed

had these conjurers chosen the fields of of science or medicine in which to pour their genius.”

-David Copperfield

CREATING THE MOVIE:

• Sylvain Chomet is one of

the leading animators, next

to Pixar and Dreamworks.

• The entire film is hand

drawn by Sylvain Chomet

and his team

• It takes two weeks to draw

the animation for five

seconds of film

• It takes Chomet two years

to draw out an entire film.

F IL M STYL E:

• Instead of using computers to assist in the

animation process, Chomet stacks each

frame on top of eachother in order to get

the feel of the animation progression.

• This process is arduous, but in the end

gives a real life-like quality to his

animations

• Chomet then scans each frame into a

computer where a line test is drawn.

• A line test is the animation progression

where only the outline of the characters

and objects are drawn in without color

and shading.

F I L M S T Y L E :

• Chomet does almost all of his

work by hand, but some

elements need to be run

through a computer to give a

more mechanical essence.

• Man-made machinery, such as

cars, trucks, and motorcycles

are the only computer

generated elements of

chomets film.

CU LTU RAL ASP ECTS : F RANCE

Tatischeff ‟s journey begins in 1959 Paris, where illusionists have

entertained since the 1840‟s. Widely considered the father of modern

magic, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1805-1871) opened one of the

first renowned theatres in the city. He also inspired Harry Houdini‟s

stage name.

Stage magic isn‟t popular like it used to be and Tatischeff heads to

London.

CU LTU RAL ASP ECTS : L ONDON

Post WWII, Britain‟s economy is booming once again. With credit readily

available, television becomes the new favorite past time. Although colored TV

broadcasts were introduced in 1953, most people didn‟t get a colored TV until the

mid 60‟s. Tati can only find a gig following a rock & roll band. No one stays to

watch him perform except a drunk. Newly invented in the start of the decade, rock

& roll came to Britain from America in the second half of the 50‟s.

With significant cultural changes as TV and the lead up to the “British invasion”

in rock, Tati‟s magic skills are left in the dust.

CU LTU RAL ASP ECTS : SCOTL AND

The drunk invites him to perform at his Scotland pub in the Isle of

Iona in the Inner Hebrides. Finally he has a welcome crowd, until they get

a pub jukebox.

Director Chomet specifically chose this location because, “When I

read the island‟s local history, I was astounded to discover that at exactly

the same period in which the Tati story is set, the islanders celebrated the

arrival of electricity from the mainland. So it made perfect sense or the

illusionist to be playing in these last outreaches of vaudeville.”

CU LTU RAL ASP ECTS CONT.

Many of Jacques Tati‟s films pondered the effect of too much

technology on society. In all three countries Tatischeff performs, the

cultural revolution of a new modern era can be seen. The final scenes

are him on a train, watching the city lights fade out except for the TVs

in a shop window. Also in the window is a ventriloquist dummy with a

price tag saying “free”. Just like stage magic, another form of

entertainment is dying.

WORK CITED

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