“You’ll meet new people. This is good as you have strong energy.”
So reads 9-year-old Lucie’s horoscope in the local paper. A Libra, Lucie has just relocated to a small village in France for school break where her mother Caroline leads an archeological dig of a dilapidated castle nearby. Caro grew up in that tiny town called Bectoile where her life was changed forever by a devastating mill fire that tore her family apart. Decades later, while she digs, stone by stone, into ancient past, her daughter is digging around as well, shuffling through long-buried family secrets and uncovering the truth about the family trauma that is only now seeing the true light of day.
Songbirds’ Synopsis
At the stage of childhood where everything comes into question, Lucie can’t control her unbridled curiosity. Upon entering Bectoile for the first time, her attention is immediately drawn to a locked gate and a mysterious wood, though her mother Caro is quick to keep her focused on their task at hand: excavating and uncovering the secrets long buried in castle’s ruins on the outskirts of town.
Lucie befriends a local 13-year-old named Yann who, along with her sheepdog Mandrin, explore the countryside, finding seemingly innocuous treasures along the way. An antique key hidden in a nest. A baby badger Lucie learns to nurse back to health and happiness. An old man known to local kids as a “wizard” who lives as a recluse in an airstream tucked away in the forest. Visiting during a school break, Lucie is kept busy.
“The Songbirds’ Secret” moves through genres like the Eurasian blue tits that twitter in and out of the story. At times, Lucie and Yann’s innocent adventuring through streams and trees and backroads will remind older viewers of nostalgic childhood ennui. The many mysteries at the film’s heart turn Lucie and Yann into Nancy Drew and a Hardy boy as they piece together seemingly innocuous clues that lead back to Lucie’s own family history.
In the film’s final sequences, a big storm rolls through the dig site, causing Caro and her work partner Pierrot to become trapped with their work. It is up to Lucie and Yann to unlock the secrets that not only unearth long-buried mysteries, but that can prevent yet another natural disaster from changing the course of her family’s trajectory.
Arresting Art Form
Using cut-paper stop-motion, “The Songbirds’ Secret” is a wholly original work of art. The medium adds texture and personality to every frame, and director Antoine Lanciaux often lingers in such artistry to allow audiences the time to take in its splendor. Long shots of the rolling hills in the French countryside, layered one after the other, are dazzling in their attention to detail. There is one particularly gorgeous sequence where the camera pulls out of the house’s highest window, framing mother and daughter huddled together on the bed. It keeps them in shot until it slowly rolls upwards, following a cat climbing the roof on a full-mooned night.
The simplicity of Lanciaux’s style keeps our focus on the complexity of his characters’ woes. Family trauma, coming of age revelations, the juxtaposing brutality and beauty of a natural setting. The layers of the paper on screen directly correlate to the layers of the story it tells.
This is a slow burning story that takes its time to reveal each point, but it remains engaging throughout. There are no overwhelming sequences or revelations. There is no violence or anything crude, making it a wonderful entry for younger viewers to dip their toes into SIFF. It is spoken in French with English subtitles, so viewers should be able to read quickly in order to fully appreciate the story.
See the film
What: “The Songbirds’ Secret” directed by Antoine Lanciaux
When: Saturday, May 9 at 12:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 11 at 6:00 p.m. at PACCAR IMAX Theater at Pacific Science Center. Get tickets.
Cost: Adults, $20; Students with ID and seniors, $17.
Age recommendation: 7+ or proficient reading age. Subtitles are required to follow the story.
Some questions to ponder together:
- Why was Caro reluctant to discuss her father with Lucie?
- Much of Lucie’s school break is spent outside with nature. We only see a screen once or twice. What do you think the natural setting offers her and how does it influence the story?
- What do the blue tits represent in this story?
- How does the medium (cut-paper stop-motion) affect the way you feel about this story? Would it be different if it were told in a more traditional animation style?
