‘The Most Precious of Cargoes’ is the French-born director’s foray into animation and features the narration of legendary actor Jean-Louis Trintignant in what would turn out to be his last role.
Back in 2012 when The Artist swept the Academy Awards, along with the BAFTA’s and all kinds of guild prizes, I realized that cinema doesn’t have to talk to one’s ears, rather speak to one’s heart. Until the very final scene of the film — spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the film yet, and BTW what are you waiting for?! — no one utters a word. Well, none that we can hear. Because The Artist did something groundbreaking for a film which came out in that decade, less than fifteen years ago… It went the way of a silent film, much like the ones which captured audiences in the early part of the 20th century. And we all loved it for that.
Fast forward to Cannes 2024 and the creator behind The Artist had come up with another wondrous work of the Seventh Art, this one adapted from the novel by Jean-Claude Grumberg’s eponymous novel, La plus précieuse des marchandises (The Most Precious of Cargoes). Once again, the theme of his film is love, and the power of love in our daily lives. But also, the power of one — how one, single, person can change our lives. While I had left Cannes by the time the film screened, and kicked myself for it, I have managed to watch it now, almost a year later, and better yet, will moderate a Q&A with Hazanavicius at the Ciné Lumière this coming Tuesday. Talk about meeting your heroes!
The film will enjoy a ten-days run at the cinema of the French Institute in London’s South Kensington and I urge anyone who has yet to watch it to do so. And on the big screen. It blends an extraordinary story with stunning animation, which at times reminded me of a Studio Ghibli film, but also early Disney works and real life animated paintings. Plus, the message of the film is hauntingly important.
A few interesting facts about the film. When the producer Patrick Sobelman and Studiocanal approached Hazanavicius to make the film, the novel by Grumberg had yet to pe published, and the filmmaker wrote the script alongside the writer, who is one of his heroes and a family friend of his parents. The French-born director, who hails from Eastern European Jewish parents, has been drawing since the age of 10 and the drawings you’ll see in the film are his own, animated by a crew of professional animators. Hazanavicius felt quite vulnerable showing his artwork in the project.
The Most Precious of Cargoes is the story of a woodcutter’s wife who, one day while gathering wood, finds a baby girl wrapped in a tallit gadol, a traditional Jewish prayer blanket, lying in the snow. While her husband wants nothing to do with the child of the “heartless” as the Jews are known to the local community, the woodcutter’s wife continues to care for the child, causing all kinds of turmoil. To know more, you’ll have to watch the film.
To book your tickets, check out the Ciné Lumière website featuring the page of the film.
Image courtesy of the Festival de Cannes