The Rabbi's Cat
Encyclopedia
The Rabbi's Cat is a 2011 French animated film directed by Joann Sfar
and Antoine Delesvaux, based on volume one, two and five of Sfar's comics series with the same title. It tells the story of a cat which obtains the ability to speak after swallowing a parrot, and its owner who is a rabbi in 1920s Algeria. The voice cast includes François Morel, Hafsia Herzi
, Maurice Bénichou
, Fellag
, François Damiens and Jean-Pierre Kalfon
.
, Antoine Delesvaux and Clément Oubrerie with the aim to make "author-driven, challenging films to appeal to children and adults." The Rabbi's Cat was the company's first project. The production was made in collaboration with TF1
and France 3
. It was pre-bought by Canal+
and CineCinéma and had a budget of 12.5 million euro. It is the second film directed by Sfar, after Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque).
One of the directors' sources of inspiration was American animation from the 1930s, and in particular from the Fleischer Studios
, which Sfar described as characterised by multi-ethnical production crews and for portraying also dark aspects of society, in cartoons such as Betty Boop
and Popeye
. In order to generate more personality for the drawn characters in The Rabbi's Cat, some of the scenes were staged in a Parisian suburb loft in the summer of 2008, with props and the cast fully costumed. As the actors performed and invented their characters' personal motion habits, the design team observed closely and drew what they picked up.
The original soundtrack was composed by Olivier Daviaud, who also had composed the music for Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque), and was performed by Enrico Macias
and the Amsterdam Klezmer Band.
, where it won the top award, the Annecy Crystal for best feature.
gave the film the top rating of three stars and compared the impression it left to that of Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
. Vavasseur called The Rabbi's Cat "a pure pleasure" and complimented it for its variation and colourfulness, as well as for how it tackles the subject of a divided society: "Offsprings of Voltaire
, Sfar and his cat don't stroke anyone with the hair, but throw as chefs together a broth of cultures with multiple flavours and with nurtured scenery." Jacques Mandelbaum wrote a negative review in Le Monde
, where he among other things criticised the film for having dull gags, lifeless voice acting and a dragging pace: "This general disconcertment is due to the lack of determination in the point of view, which evidently wants to take in everything and fails to grasp the bad. Between Chagall
and Tintin
, family chronicle and adventure film, biblical legend and colonial chronicle, historical reconstruction and winks to the contemporary world, the references are superimposed without achieving harmony. In the end, this plea for tolerance is a moral preaching so annoyingly gentle that it struggles to convince us of its legitimacy." Jordan Mintzer wrote in The Hollywood Reporter
: "Though this gorgeously animated affair showcases the artist's freewheeling style and colorful arabesque imagery, its rambling episodic structure is not quite the cat's meow, even if it remains a thoroughly enjoyable take on Judaism in early 20th century North Africa. ... While the end result is somewhat chaotic, it proves that Sfar can make the jump from page to screen in ways that are both compelling and personal."
Joann Sfar
Joann Sfar is a French comics artist, comic book creator and film director.-Life and career:Sfar was born in Nice. He is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by...
and Antoine Delesvaux, based on volume one, two and five of Sfar's comics series with the same title. It tells the story of a cat which obtains the ability to speak after swallowing a parrot, and its owner who is a rabbi in 1920s Algeria. The voice cast includes François Morel, Hafsia Herzi
Hafsia Herzi
Hafsia Herzi is a French actress of Algerian and Tunisian descent. She is best known for her debut role in the award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature The Secret of the Grain for which she won the award for most promising actress at the César Awards 2008, and the Marcello Mastroianni award, for best...
, Maurice Bénichou
Maurice Bénichou
Maurice Bénichou is a French actor. His best known roles include three collaborations with director Michael Haneke , and a part in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie...
, Fellag
Fellag
Mohamed Saïd Fellag is an Algerian comedian, writer and humorist. He did his primary studies in Azeffoun and his secondary studies in Ali Mellah secondary school in Draa el Mizan...
, François Damiens and Jean-Pierre Kalfon
Jean-Pierre Kalfon
Jean-Pierre Kalfon is a French film and television actor.-Selected filmography:* The Rabbi's Cat * Parc * The Dreamers * Lulu * La Repetition...
.
Cast
- François Morel as the cat
- Maurice BénichouMaurice BénichouMaurice Bénichou is a French actor. His best known roles include three collaborations with director Michael Haneke , and a part in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie...
as the rabbi - Hafsia HerziHafsia HerziHafsia Herzi is a French actress of Algerian and Tunisian descent. She is best known for her debut role in the award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature The Secret of the Grain for which she won the award for most promising actress at the César Awards 2008, and the Marcello Mastroianni award, for best...
as Zlabya - Jean-Pierre KalfonJean-Pierre KalfonJean-Pierre Kalfon is a French film and television actor.-Selected filmography:* The Rabbi's Cat * Parc * The Dreamers * Lulu * La Repetition...
as Malka of the lions - FellagFellagMohamed Saïd Fellag is an Algerian comedian, writer and humorist. He did his primary studies in Azeffoun and his secondary studies in Ali Mellah secondary school in Draa el Mizan...
as sheik Mohammed Sfar - Sava Lolov as the Russian painter
- Daniel Cohen as the rabbi's master
- François Damiens as the Belgian reporter
- Wojciech PszoniakWojciech PszoniakWojciech Pszoniak , is a Polish film and theater actor.Pszoniak gained international visibility following Andrzej Wajda's 1975 film The Promised Land, in which he played Moritz, one of the three main characters....
as Vastenov - Marguerite AbouetMarguerite AbouetMarguerite Abouet was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 1971. She is best known for her graphic novel series Aya.-Biography:At the age of twelve, Abouet and her brother moved to France with their great uncle. She currently resides in Romainville, a suburb just outside of Paris, with her husband,...
as the African girl - Eric ElmosninoEric ElmosninoEric Elmosnino is a French actor and musician of jewish origin. He is best known internationally for portraying Serge Gainsbourg in the film Gainsbourg for which he won the César Award for Best Actor....
as professor Soliman - Alice Houri as Knidelette
- Mathieu AmalricMathieu AmalricMathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
as the prince
Production
Autochenille Production was launched in 2007 by Joann SfarJoann Sfar
Joann Sfar is a French comics artist, comic book creator and film director.-Life and career:Sfar was born in Nice. He is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by...
, Antoine Delesvaux and Clément Oubrerie with the aim to make "author-driven, challenging films to appeal to children and adults." The Rabbi's Cat was the company's first project. The production was made in collaboration with TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...
and France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
. It was pre-bought by Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
and CineCinéma and had a budget of 12.5 million euro. It is the second film directed by Sfar, after Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque).
One of the directors' sources of inspiration was American animation from the 1930s, and in particular from the Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
, which Sfar described as characterised by multi-ethnical production crews and for portraying also dark aspects of society, in cartoons such as Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
and Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
. In order to generate more personality for the drawn characters in The Rabbi's Cat, some of the scenes were staged in a Parisian suburb loft in the summer of 2008, with props and the cast fully costumed. As the actors performed and invented their characters' personal motion habits, the design team observed closely and drew what they picked up.
The original soundtrack was composed by Olivier Daviaud, who also had composed the music for Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque), and was performed by Enrico Macias
Enrico Macias
Gaston Ghrenassia, known by his stage name Enrico Macias, is an Algerian French Pied noir singer and musician...
and the Amsterdam Klezmer Band.
Release
The film was released in France on 1 June 2011 through UGC Distribution, which launched it in 243 prints. It competed at the 2011 Annecy International Animated Film FestivalAnnecy International Animated Film Festival
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became annual in 1998...
, where it won the top award, the Annecy Crystal for best feature.
Critical response
Pierre Vavasseur of Le ParisienLe Parisien
Le Parisien is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It was established as Le Parisien libéré by Émilien Amaury in 1944, and the name was changed to the current one in 1986...
gave the film the top rating of three stars and compared the impression it left to that of Persepolis
Persepolis (film)
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
by Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
. Vavasseur called The Rabbi's Cat "a pure pleasure" and complimented it for its variation and colourfulness, as well as for how it tackles the subject of a divided society: "Offsprings of Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, Sfar and his cat don't stroke anyone with the hair, but throw as chefs together a broth of cultures with multiple flavours and with nurtured scenery." Jacques Mandelbaum wrote a negative review in Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, where he among other things criticised the film for having dull gags, lifeless voice acting and a dragging pace: "This general disconcertment is due to the lack of determination in the point of view, which evidently wants to take in everything and fails to grasp the bad. Between Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
and Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
, family chronicle and adventure film, biblical legend and colonial chronicle, historical reconstruction and winks to the contemporary world, the references are superimposed without achieving harmony. In the end, this plea for tolerance is a moral preaching so annoyingly gentle that it struggles to convince us of its legitimacy." Jordan Mintzer wrote in The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
: "Though this gorgeously animated affair showcases the artist's freewheeling style and colorful arabesque imagery, its rambling episodic structure is not quite the cat's meow, even if it remains a thoroughly enjoyable take on Judaism in early 20th century North Africa. ... While the end result is somewhat chaotic, it proves that Sfar can make the jump from page to screen in ways that are both compelling and personal."
See also
- Cinema of FranceCinema of FranceThe Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
- History of French animationHistory of French animationThe first pictured movie was from Frenchman Émile Reynaud, who created praxynoscope, animation system of 12 pictures, and films of about 500~600 pictures, projected on its own théatre optique, system near from modern film projector, at Musée Grévin in Paris, France, the October 28, 1892.Émile Cohl ...
- History of the Jews in AlgeriaHistory of the Jews in AlgeriaHistory of the Jews in Algeria refers to the history of the Jewish community of Algeria, which goes back to the 1st centuries CE. In the 14th century, many Spanish Jews moved to Algeria...
External links
- Official website
- The film's section at the official website of the comic books