Originally published November 22, 2019. Updated November 23, 2019.
I Lost My Body, 2019.
Directed by Jérémy Clapin.
Featuring the voice talents of Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois and Patrick d’Assumcao.
SYNOPSIS:
A disembodied hand escapes it’s cold entrapment in a hospital, venturing home to try and find the rest of its body.
Is there a greater force in the universe than that connecting an animated disembodied hand and its (former) owner? Much as the separated parts of the Iron Giant perpetually crawl towards repairment, the hand in question escapes its icy entrapment at a hospital in the hope of reuniting with the boy to whom he once belonged. A journey across a city fraught with fearsome beasts and high-octane methods of travel ensues, intercut with flashbacks to the events presumably leading up to this cataclysmic separation. Winner of the Critics Week Grand Prize at Cannes this year, I Lost My Body explores loneliness, separation, and grief to a degree that most live action films struggle to obtain.
There is an obvious gag here, to tease the forthcoming injury like the expectation of the valet’s amputation in Hot Tub Time Machine. It is the first of many good decisions by director Jérémy Clapin to use this device to let the audience squirm on occasion, but to resist the temptation to overdo it. For this film is about anything but shock tactics. It is instead concerned with the stampeding emotions leading to catastrophe, and Clapin builds up to it with brilliant manipulation of desire and humanity. As a child, Naoufel was orphaned by a car accident. Years later, a chance encounter helps Naoufel escape a trapped existence of pizza delivery and suffocation within his foster home. Suddenly the only thing that seems important is first love, and all the new things that come with blossoming romance: the desire to impress, a cover up of embarrassing truths, an interest in the writing of John Irving. From monochrome shades, through darker, seedier tones and finally into light, bright colours, Clapin tracks Naoufel’s personal development, though the City of Light has rarely seemed more isolating.
As innocently enticing and refreshingly honest as the scenes following Naoufel may be, the prospect of the hand’s expedition is entirely more exciting. Crawling, jumping, and even somehow appearing to perceive its surroundings (without the majority of the common sensory organs, obviously), the hand battles through oscillations between the frying pan and the fire. I Lost My Body is unique in its brilliant use of hardship and violence, certainly alone in the field of animation in the sense of creating a realistically brutal world. But still the film is driven by fantasy, of a hand desperate to return to where it belongs. Whether Clapin aims to find meaning in the regret of somehow unavoidable mistakes or the simple hardships of life, it almost doesn’t matter. Because the warmth and irresistibility of the story resides in the recognisable fallibility of Naoufel’s youthful disillusionment.
As snow covers footprints and Clapin beautifully manipulates time strands towards the end of his film, it becomes apparent that a clear ending was never on the cards. Naoufel’s exquisite character arc might just swan dive or take flight, but the meaningful leftover is not the route taken. Clapin’s film, for all it’s struggles, is not a sad one. It reflects hurt and grief, but also the incredible human capacity to overcome – to find friendship and love despite isolation. I Lost My Body normalises the act of lifeless hand traversing a city, highlighting strength. Perhaps the ending will not be viewed as hopeful by all, but then, such an astute comment on human existence never would.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Dan Sareen
