Gaspard Schlatter is the voice of Courgette

MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE
Directed by Claude Barras
Certificate PG
☆☆☆☆

THIS French-made stop-motion animated story of a little boy who is orphaned in extremely unfortunate circumstances is the cinematic personification of charm.

Beautifully told and gentle on the eye, it isn’t shmaltzy but is not afraid to tug on heart strings in just about every scene. This is a Plasticine tear-jerker, a Morph-like tragi-rom-com told by puppets with hearts that beat like bass drums with every jerky movement.

We meet a squishy little fellow called Courgette (voiced by Gaspard Schlatter) in the bare flat he shares with his alcoholic mother. Disaster strikes when he accidentally causes her death – yes, an odd opening perhaps for an animated children’s film – but it sets things up nicely to consider topics in a way that creates a bridge between the child and adult viewer.

Courgette is taken to an orphanage by a friendly police officer and has to find his feet in a scary new place. There is a leader of a gang, the tough guy Simon (Paulin Jaccoud), who at first tries to intimidate, and a loveable group of other orphans each with a back story to break hearts.

The tale is lovely, the message well told. The stop-motion animation has a depth and quality to it that you rarely get with purely CGI features.

Director Barras said he was attracted to Gilles Paris’s book because “I wanted to make a film about children that speaks to them about abuse and its remedies in today’s world, an entertaining film that makes you laugh and makes you cry, but remains firmly committed, one that takes place in the here and now, that speaks of the resilient strength of a group of friends and that advocates camaraderie, sharing and tolerance.”

He has done all of the above.