The Red Hen, or the Parisians – Weekend

At the XVII Big Cartoon Festival in Moscow they will show the full-length French-Italian film “Chicken for Linda” (directed by Sebastien Lodenbach and Maria Chiara Malta), a very funny story about death and memory, about what a terrible force it is – the indomitable whim of a little girl, and that love can overtake a person suddenly. And anyone.

Text: Ivan Davydov

Once upon a time, little Linda’s beloved father died, right at dinner, when he fed her chicken with Roman peppers (he was Italian). Linda barely remembers her father, but she remembers this chicken. And now Linda is already a schoolgirl, her mother offends and punishes her for no reason, then she realizes that she has made a mistake, and in order to earn forgiveness, she promises to fulfill any of her daughter’s wishes. And my daughter asks for chicken with peppers. To remember my father.

Memory, the filmmakers tell us, is the darkness in which we drown, we forget what we don’t want to forget, and we can’t do anything about it. Or can we? It is possible that we still can.

Paulette, Linda’s mother, doesn’t know how to cook at all. Their lunches are reheated convenience foods. But that’s not so bad. The real problem is that the unions have brought people out for another strike (the French are always on strike), all the shops in Paris are closed, and finding a chicken is an almost impossible task.

You will inevitably remember the silly and attractive world of French comedies. Yes, even Gregoire Moulin, who is against humanity. There the hero ran around the empty city, trying to solve his problems, while all the normal people were watching football. Here, in the same way, the heroine rushes around the empty city, while all the normal people walk along the central streets with posters and chant: “More money!”

Chicken Little has everything a good French comedy should have. There is a crime (because a live chicken, due to the unavailability of already cut chicken, has to be stolen from the farm). There is a chase, there is an idiot policeman, an honest and ridiculous servant, there is a set of simple gags, and there is love at first sight. The creators of the cartoon generously give love to the characters, and even an idiot policeman will get some.

Paulette runs after the chicken, and the chicken, a red ball of ruffled feathers, runs away from her, trying to save its life. The idiot cop runs after Paulette, and little Linda runs after her memories.

Cabinets fall, dishes break, a respectable old lady faints and comes to her senses after being hit in the head with a soccer ball: this is France, how can there be no football here? There are, however, more complex jokes: for example, in the finale, police special forces are going to disperse a horde of raging children… And they retreat, because raging children are a terrible force.

A simple joke, told easily and cheerfully, that is, exactly the way simple jokes should be told. But not only.

First of all, it’s just coolly drawn. It seems simple, but with an abyss of references. Paulette is a completely Renoirian woman, but this Renoirian woman drives a tiny car around Paris, which seems to have been painted by Marche. And Van Gogh sketched the suburbs, which he seemed to have not drawn enough.

There are several real finds. Paulette falls asleep over a book of recipes and turns into a shapeless blur, and only the touch of a small child’s hand makes her a living person again. And a little later she turns (while remaining herself) into a wild animal when she catches a disobedient chicken on the farm.

In this painted Paris, cheerful chaos reigns, but the viewer – without any intrusiveness, however, without unnecessary didactics – is invited to think about quite serious things. About death, for example. In order for a living chicken to turn into a Roman chicken, into a magic potion that restores memory, it actually needs to be killed. But modern city dwellers don’t know how to kill. And it’s not even a matter of pity – they were simply not taught this, because the carcasses of chickens are in the supermarket. And if it weren’t for this damned strike… You expect sentimentality and compassion from a child, but they are not there, everything is exactly the opposite. It is the little girl Linda who, sweeping away all obstacles, moves towards her goal. The chicken must die. And all this is so natural and understandable that only when the credits appear on the screen do you suddenly ask yourself – what if we were also told a story about cute child cruelty?

But first of all, this is, of course, a story about memory. The French know how to talk about memory, if you don’t believe me, ask Marcel Proust. What kind of life is there – darkness? What does this mean and who knows about it? Maybe our dead? Darkness in the film has, if not the main, then an important role. How do we remember and why do we forget what we don’t want to forget? Why doesn’t Linda remember her father, whom she never stops loving, but she remembers the Roman chicken?

In general, it’s probably clear why “Chicken for Linda” has already won the “Crystal” of the Annecy Animation Festival this year for the best feature film. And in general, I managed to collect a whole collection of prizes at various international festivals.

And finally, a spoiler: the chicken did die. But the girl remembered everything. And all the children in the yard received communion with a wonderful dish. Not five loaves of bread and not five thousand hungry people, but the reference still came out transparent.

I feel sorry for the chicken. And I forgot something important – there is also a very fat and very beautiful cat in the film, whose name is Gaza. Can there now be a text that does not mention Gaza?

Full show schedule at festival website

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