Madame Souza’s Casa Portuguesa in France: The Portuguese Element in Sylvain Chomet’s Multicultural, Animated Film, Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003). (D r a f t 1-30-07)

The charming, hilarious, satirical, engagé (committed to action) film, Les

Triplettes de Belleville, appeared in France in June 2003, the product of the mind of

director and master cartoonist Syvain Chomet with the support of producer Didier

Brunner of Les Armateurs. The film received many awards in Europe and South

America, including that of Sélection Spéciale at Cannes. In 2004 Triplettes garnered two

Academy Award nominations, one for Best Animated Feature, and another for Best

Original Song. The MPAA justified a PG 13 rating by citing “images involving

sensuality, violence and crude humor.” 1

Chomet’s animated, filmed bande dessinée (comic strip), Les Triplettes de

Belleville, contains clever allusions to cultural and historical personalities and events. The

significant allusions have been identified in numerous reviews and interviews either

posted on the web2 or printed in scholarly, more traditional format.3 Previous

commentary has focused on varied elements in the film, especially its uniquely French

quality, one that combines great originality, art, and social satire with the topic of

transgenerational child rearing. However, there remain some important aspects of Les

Triplettes that are in need of further elucidation. The present article attempts to remedy

those lacunae. Mr. Chomet declared in an interview with Philippe Moins that the basic

principle of his animation must be something very intellectual rather than of purely

commercial value.4 What are the implications of such a serious purpose in Chomet’s

handling of multicultural, pluricultural issues in this cartoon?

Previous studies concerning the Triplettes de Belleville do not dedicate adequate

attention to the important Portuguese element in it. The principal character portrayed in

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the film, Madame Souza, is a Portuguese grandmother living in France, one not entirely

assimilated. As we shall note further on, her home outside Paris is filled with Portuguese

art objects, permanent reminders of her terra natal.5 In selecting a main character, why

did Chomet choose to caricature a Portuguese immigrant? For the French, what is the

image or stereotype of Portuguese immigrants in France during the 1960’s and 1970’s?

The other main character in the film, Madame Souza’s hapless, orphaned

grandson, Champion, whose parents must have met a tragic demise, exhibits a

mournfully, perennially sad visage throughout. His strong-willed grandmother turns him

into an emasculated neto mimado (spoiled grandson) whose scant accomplishments fall

short of his true potential. Champion’s very name is ironic since he encounters failure as

a cyclist and at life in general, a tragic anti-hero, a “loser” whose life revolves in circles

not unlike the wheels of his bicycle. What can be Chomet’s purpose in depicting such a

character?

For the reader who has not yet viewed the film, it is recommended that you so do.

For everone’s convenience, here is a summary of Les Triplettes de Belleville. The film is

the result of a unique collaboration of French, Belgian and Canadian artists. Many

specifically American, French, French Canadian and Portuguese cultural, historical, and

cinematographic references or scenes are included in the film. Cultural symbols,

stereotypes and icons are found juxtaposed in a humorous, amusing manner. Professor

Jouan-Westlund has observed that this film contains a serious, humanistic satire of the

modern international world, of globalization and exploitation, of the consumerism

characteristic of obese cultures found in so-called “developed” nations.6 In the film there

are obese individuals inhabiting both sides of the Atlantic. The film is almost, but –

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significantly -- not entirely, silent from the standpoint of spoken dialogue, and subtitles

are not used. However, an important question is spoken at the beginning of Triplettes and

again at the end of the film: Madame Souza inquires of her grandson, Champion, whether

the film has ended. Her words, and Champion’s reply at the conclusion of the movie,

have been dubbed into various languages directed at specific linguistic audiences for

1 “Triplettes de Belleville,” film review published online, Dec. 17, 2006.<http://www.imbd.com/title/tt0286244/>. The potentially objectionable scenes in the film may appear rather “tame” when compared with many telecast on everyday television programs. However, this is definitely not a film for young children. Sensuality: Josephine Baker, wearing only a few bananas around her waist, is shown dancing; In Belleville, there is a prostitute actively engaged with a client in the hallway near the triplets’ apartment. Violence: Three cyclists are kidnapped by the French underworld. A grenade is exploded by one of the triplets to gather frogs for dinner; another is exploded to liberate captive cyclists from the crime syndicate’s gambling parlor in Belleville. A captive cyclist falls from his bicycle and is shot dead by the gangster scorekeeper. Although they use firearms (pistols and even a bazooka!) each member of the pègre (French mafia underworld) meets a violent end while attempting to pursue the liberated cyclists and their liberators. Crude humor: Many characters represented in the film are obese and distorted. One fat matron waddles into the Belleville Theatre with her man stuck in her buttocks. Fred Astaire’s shoes grow teeth, attack him and partially consume him in full view of the audience. Males transformed into monkeys rush on stage and consume the bananas worn by Ms. Baker around her mid-section. The accordionist Rivette, la Fée (Fairy) de l’Accordion, performs atop a moving panel truck and becomes stuck -- and injured -- under a bridge overpass. French gangsters become ill aboard ship and vomit through portholes. A toilet bowl contains a feces in the shape of a dark Mickey Mouse. And so on.

2 Some useful online resources concerning the film in question are: Claúdia Aparecida de Oliveira Leite,“Novos Caminhos da criação? Reflexões sobre família e infância,” Colóquio sobre família e infância, LEPSI IP/FE-USP, 2006: Psicanálise, infância e educação. 1 Dec. 2006. <http://www.proceedings.scielo/br/>; Philippe Moins, “The animated manifesto behind Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplettes de Belleville,” Interview 23 Nov. 2003 (reported online) with S. Chomet, 26 Nov.2006 <http://mag.awn.com/index.php?article_no=1923>; Magdalena Segertova, “Les triplettes de Belleville sortent en salles cheques,” Interview with S. Chomet, 11 Nov. 2003, Radio Prague. 26 Nov. 2006. http://www.rdio.cz/fr/edition/47886; “Triplets of Belleville,” interviews (online) with Sylvain Chomet and collaborators, 1 Dec. 2006 <http://www.sonyclassics.com>; “Triplettes de Belleville,” (on the film’s official website) interviews with S. Chomet and collaborators, 2 Jan. 2007, <http://www.lestriplettesdebelleville.com/>; “Triplettes de Belleville,” film review published online, Dec. 17, 2006 <http://www.imbd.com/title/tt0286244/>.

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purposes of film distribution. The Region One DVD, NTSC version, distributed in North

America features sound track options in both English and Spanish.7 The reader who is

fluent in languages will find that the film dubbed in Spanish is curiously much easier to

understand than either the version dubbed in English, or the Region 2 DVD, PAL version

originale in French. Sounds, noises and music have very important roles to play in the

3 Some useful journal articles that review and discuss the film are: Annie Jouan-Westlund, “L’Imaginaire populaire dans Les Triplettes de Belleville,” The French Review. 79.6 (2006) 1195-1205; Richard Neupert, “The Triplets of Belleville (The Triplettes de Belleville),” Film Quaterly, 58.3 (2005) 38-42; Philippe Rouyer, “Les Triplettes de Belleville: un Tour de France … et d’Amérique,” Positif 508 (2003) 76-77; Alexander Stein,“Tricycles, Bicycles, Life Cycles; Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Childhood Loss and Transgenerational Parenting in Les Triplettes de Belleville,” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis 87-4 (2006): 1125-1134. Dr. Stein’s thoughtful and well-written analysis is probably the best published to date concerning the serious content in the Triplettesde Belleville. At this writing (January 2007) I am aware of an article in press: Florilane Place-Verghnes, “Douce France? Les Triplettes de Belleville,” Le Cinéma d’animation , (Edtition hors série de CinémAction). Paris: Corlet-Télérama, 2007. I am grateful that professor Place-Verghes has kindly written to me that “Les triplettes de Belleville est souvent présenté comme un film d’animation fleurant bon la France d’antan. Cet article montrera comment le film de Sylvain Chomet subvertit au contraire les rouages de la nostalgie bon marché. Comme vous voyez, je m’intéresse dans cet article à la satire de la société américaine (ce qui est évident) et de la nostalgie franchouillarde à la Amélie Poulain (ce qui l’est moins). Mais pas de portugais en vue…”

4 Moins 1.

5 Michel Poinard,, and M.A. Hily, “Réseaux informels et officiels dans la communauté portugaise en France,” Espace, populations, sociétés 2 (1983) 66: “Dans la culture populaire c’est l’attachement au village d’origine qui prévaut (Quant un émigré dit a minha terra -ma terre- il confond affectivement le Portugal tout entier et la terre natale).”

6 Jouan-Westlund 1195. 7 The version originale’s title, Les Triplettes de Belleville, is the same as the one

used in the version distributed in the USA. However, the latter NTSC version is around four minutes shorter than the original in PAL. The version distributed in the UK, “Belleville Rendez-Vous,” is shorter still. The Portuguese version distributed in Brazil (which I have not seen) is entitled “As bicicletas de Belleville,” according to professor

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Triplettes. A comparison may be made to the films of the 1950’s by French comedian

Jacques Tatii, such as Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.

At the beginning of the film the initial credits to the producer and to various

agencies and governments that assisted with crucial funding are identified and

superimposed in sequence centered on the cartoon image of an old, vaudeville stage, over

which we perceive the words “Belleville Cartoune.” The careful viewer will also notice

below the stage the inclusion of Einstein’s principal field theory equation demonstrating

the curvature of space and time, including the relationship of gravitational forces and

matter in the universe!8 Rather than some arcane, intellectual joke inserted by a frustrated

cartoonist who originally perhaps had tried to major in physics, an important dimension

at once scientific yet also metaphysical, of cosmic proportions -- extension in space and

time -- is introduced thereby. Like the space-time curvature demonstrated by Einstein’s

ingenious formula, which has been confirmed by scientific observations, the destiny of

Chomet’s characters invariably involve circular, cyclical motions, -- just as do our own

lives – an unavoidable contingency of the universal, human condition.

Various extremely obese persons, mainly women, are shown entering the

Belleville Theatre where they attend a Parisian vaudeville show of the inter-war period.

The scratchy, old film in black and white continues with a vocal performance of Ben

Charest’s song, Belleville Rendez-Vous, sung by the youthful Triplettes de Belleville.

Next, Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhard effortlessly demonstrates his virtuosity by playing

Oliveira Leite

8 I am grateful to my colleague, Dr. Douglas Singleton, Department of Physics at California State University Fresno, who identified for me Chomet’s inclusion of Einstein’s complete expression of the metrical law of general relativity.

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his guitar’s struts with one of his feet. This performance is followed by black American

expatriate Josephine Baker who dances nearly in the nude, wearing only bananas around

her waist. Such a sight incites the males in the audience, transformed into ravenous

monkeys, to rush onto the stage, to interrupt her performance, and to consume the banana

costume of the terrified Josephine.9 Flawless dancer Fred Astaire’s act is fatally

interrupted when he loses his tap dancing shoes that, transformed into hungry teeth,

attack him fiercely and drag him -- tongue extended, eyes closed -- offstage, apparently to

complete their meal. The fou chantant (crazy singer) as the composer of the lovely song

La Mer, Charles Trenet, is known by the French, directs the orchestra. The film breaks

and we discover to our surprise that the nostalgic film from yesteryear that we had been

watching, is actually a film appearing on the petit écran (small screen) of a 1950’s

television set located in the cluttered home of Madame Souza, a clubfooted, Portuguese

immigrant to France, who lives with her pre-adolescent grandson, Champion.

The Souza’s modest, working-class home is located in a still unspoiled, rural,

quiet countryside near Paris. In the following sequence, time has quickly passed and we

are at the end of the 1960’s. We are aware of this because not only has an ugly urban

sprawl engulfed her home, a jet passenger plane flies overhead where previously only

propeller-driven planes had appeared. Travel by jet airplane was inaugurated in 1958, the

same year that General Charles de Gaulle became the first president of the newly formed

French Fifth Republic. A few minutes later in the film we witness a satire of le Grand

9 Baker did in fact dance clad only in bananas around her waist in a historic performance re-telecast last summer by TV5 Monde, Etats-Unis. The commentator observed that had scandalized many, but not everyone!

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Charles as he holds forth on 1960’s French television in his deliberate, noble, emphatic

manner concerning the importance of the Tour de France.10

Madame Souza, sensitive to her orphaned grandson’s melancholic nature, realizes

that she must find something positive to occupy his time. Following a telecast

performance of celebrated Canadian pianist Glen Gould characteristically hunched over

the piano, she tries unsuccessfully to interest Champion in learning to play the piano. She

manages to cheer him momentarily with the gift of a puppy that grows into a giant but

lovable pet named “Bruno,” the third main character in the film. Bruno’s comic obsession

with food and trains, coupled with the cartoonist’s portrayal of his thoughts and dreams,

is surely one of the memorable highlights of this unusual film. Under Champion’s bed

grandma discovers the child’s hidden scrapbook filled with photos of cycling stars torn

from newspapers, revealing the his interest in competition cycling. Madame Souza’s gift

to Champion of a tricycle and an electric train are met with enthusiasm, time passes, and

she endeavors to transform her grandson into a cycling champion, an authentic

“Champion” true to his name. She enforces a rigorous and hilarious training regimen on

him: her authoritative whistle marks a disciplined cadence while, seated on his old

tricycle, she follows an expressionless Champion on his bicycle over cobble-stoned

streets, up and down impossibly steep hills. Back home Madame Souza massages her

fatigued Champion with a vacuum sweeper, an eggbeater and a lawnmower. Bruno, when

10 Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France (London: Simon & Schuster, 2004) 185: “Though not an ardent sports fan, de Gaulle could recognize a great national institution when he saw one and his successors in the Elysée Palace have been happy to appropriate the Tour as expressing their own “certain idea of France.” The latter phrase, “Je me suis fait une certaine idée de la France,” is one of the memorable quotes from de Gaulle’s Mémoires, and appears on the first page of the volume.

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not barking at passing trains, has been waiting impatiently all day for the leftovers from

Champion’s meal. Grandma measures Champion’s weight by a silly contraption, as his

consumption of food must be administered very precisely. Sometime around the early

1970’s the young man qualifies for a place in the Tour de France competition; however,

when Champion encounters steep mountains leading to the Col du fémur (!), he falters

and falls far behind, easy prey for kidnaping by mysterious, dark figures from the French

(or French-Canadian) underworld, mafiosi whose capo sports a béret bien basque.

Champion and two additional, luckless, captive cyclists are loaded onto a large ship that

sets out from Marseilles for distant Belleville, an amalgamation of New York, Quebec

and Montreal, on the other side of the Atlantic. The opening, mournful portion from

Mozart’s C minor mass sets an appropriately tragic, somber tone for crossing a stormy

ocean, one of the truly beautiful portions of the film. Rough waters produce seasickness

among the mafiosi, whose backs are shown, in a comic scene, while they make urgent use

of every open porthole available. Madame Souza and Bruno incredibly follow the ship in

a rented, children’s paddle boat all the way to the “New World.” “Belleville” in French

means “beautiful city,” an irony since on close inspection it turns out not to be all that

beautiful or wonderful because everyone living in the polluted, noisy city is fat. A

bloated, distorted Statue of Liberty welcomes the visitors: her uplifted, right arm holds

fast to an ice cream cone, while her left hand and forearm provide safe haven for an

enormous hamburger. The French mafia, whose motto in vino veritas, Latin for, “in wine

there is truth,” are lodged in a skyscraper named the “French Wine Center.” The

prisoners, Champion and two fellow cyclists, continuously doped intravenously with red

wine, are made to peddle their stationary bikes in the center of a well-attended auditorium

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where illegal betting is going on. Madame Souza and Bruno, are aided by the three

elderly Belleville sisters, the same ones featured in their youthful prime earlier in the

film. They subsist by eating frogs collected after the explosion of a European grenade

(which has a handle like a stick, unlike U.S.-style grenades that are round like baseballs).

Madame Souza and Bruno are hungry, but as she apparently is unable to communicate

with the three sisters in either English or French, she attempts to communicate her

feelings at the piano by playing and singing (she comically cannot really do either) the

beginning words from a popular, old Portuguese song, Uma Casa Portuguesa,

concerning customary hospitality in Portugal. The Triplettes sing their old “Belleville

Rendez-Vous” number while using such improvised musical instruments as a newspaper,

grilles in an old fridge, and a vacuum sweeper. The combined feminine wiles of Madame

Souza, the Triplets, together with Bruno’s fine sense of smell, result in Champion’s

rescue in the parody of a classic, but a very amusing chase sequence – in which the

mafiosi “bad guys” use French Deux Cheveaux sedans to pursue the “good guys.”

Madame Souza and her triplet friends use more feminine wiles and a lot of extremely

good luck to triumph over evil. However, this is only the parody of the typically happy

ending à la Holloywood. Amongst all the funny gags and laughter that the film incites,

on close inspection it also leads the thoughtful viewer to recognize and to reflect upon the

negative, pessimistic downside of “successful” global, capitalist economies wherein

Everyman faces a destiny solely dedicated to excess in virtually all domains, especially to

the possession and craving for more material goods.11

11 Professor Oliveira Leite’s article (previously identified in note 3) makes use of critique by Lacan and others to discuss the effects and pressures of “uma sociedade consumista por excelência” on the adult-child relationship.

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Chomet’s hyperbolized and stereotypical caricature of the principal character,

Madame Souza, is that of a Portuguese immigrant residing in France around fifty years

ago. As one should expect in a cartoon, her physical appearance is exaggerated, her

clothing is rather ordinary, she is grossly overweight with du monde au balcon (ample

breasts). Madame Souza has two visible handicaps, a club foot, and her eyesight. She

wears thick, Mr. Magoo-type glasses that she incessantly repositions on her nose with a

hand gesture. Although subject to the physical limitations just enumerated, and most

probably lacking in much education and money, Madame Souza possesses some

admirable personal qualities, above all a stubborn determination to adapt to any situation,

adhering faithfully to the principle that “when life gives you lemons, you make

lemonade!” She evinces almost fanatical devotion to the welfare of her young, orphaned

grandson, Champion, whom she dutifully accepts to raise in the absence of any other

family members. Fortunately for this difficult endeavor the cartoonist has endowed her

with a surprising amount of healthful energy for someone her age. For example, in her

role as Champion’s cycling trainer she incredibly is able to pedal his old tricycle as fast

as her grandson pedals his professional racing bicycle; subsequently she is sturdy enough

to pedal a small paddleboat with Bruno on board across a stormy Atlantic Ocean

destination Belleville. Madame Souza’s seemingly cheerful, optimistic outlook is

demonstrated in the face of adversity. Camped out with Bruno under a bridge in

Belleville, she has built a cozy campfire, and uses a cast-off bicycle wheel to pick out a

popular polka tune from the 50’s à la Lawrence Welk sans accordion. Music means

salvation, as it draws the attention of the elderly Belleville triplets, who kindly provide

shelter for Madame Souza and Bruno in their dismal tenement building apartment. While

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a most unusual feast of frogs is under preparation for dinner with yummy tadpoles for

dessert, a famished Souza tries her best to belt out loudly -- but very off key -- the

traditional Portuguese song concerning warm Portuguese hospitality, “Uma Casa

Portuguesa,” all the while more or less pounding on the sisters’ old piano. Here are the

words of the song, very appropriate to the occasion:

Numa casa portuguesa fica bem, pão e vinho sobre a mesa. Quando à porta humildemente bate alguém, senta-se à mesa co’a gente.Fica bem essa franqueza, fica bem, que o povo nunca a desmente.A alegria da pobreza, está nesta grande riqueza, de dar, e ficar contente.Quatro paredes caiadas, um cheirinho de alecrim, …

In a Portuguese home all is fine, (because there is always) bread and wine on the table. When someone humbly knocks at the door, (that person) is seated at the table with the rest of us. This warm reception is fine, it is appropriate, and the people never act otherwise. The happiness of poverty, it resides in this great richness, to give (out of generosity), and to be happy. Four white-washed walls, an aroma of rosemary, … Let us return to France for an insightful tour of Madame Souza’s casa portuguesa

in a foreign land circa late 40’s. An alert observer will find that this humble, working-

class home near Paris is filled with art objects from Portugal.12 There is a typical

Portuguese vase permanently located atop the television set at the start of Les Triplettes

de Belleville. At the conclusion of the film decades later it remains in exactly the same

spot, but on a newer TV set with a larger screen. A similar Portuguese vase sets on a

small round table. Another vase decorated in Portuguese-Chinese style occupies the top

of what appears to be a cabinet designed to store the family’s best china dishes. On a wall

hangs a Portuguese decorative plate, while numerous galos de Barcelos (Portuguese

12 While viewing the Triplettes de Belleville for the first time together with my wife, Elsa Maria Silva Savage Ross, and daughter, Anne-Marie Ross, both of them noticed immediately the Portuguese decorations and tablecloth in the Souza’s home, a casa portuguesa transplanted to France.

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roosters) predominate on a tablecloth, made of oilcloth more than likely, in a distinctive

pattern from northern Portugal. On still another a cabinet two plates are on display, one

has the word “PORTUGAL” written on it, and the other reads “FATIMA MARIA” to

assure us that this is a good Roman Catholic household. Perhaps “MARIA” refers to

Maria de Fátima, or perhaps Madame Souza’s given name may be Maria. She may have

acquired the plate as a souvenir on a visit to the Basílica at Fátima in Portugal. On a shelf

there is a bottle marked “PORTO.” Madame Souza’s abode may physically be in France,

but casa portuguesa it surely is from the standpoint of decorations. There are only a few

authentically French items in the house: just inside the front door there is a doormat

emblazoned with the word “Peugeot” on it, acquired either as a promotional item for an

automobile or a bicycle bearing the “Peugeot” trademark. Probably its origin is related to

cycling, given the family’s apparent obsession with cycling. Champion’s bedroom

upstairs is decorated with memorabilia related to French bicycle racing, and his

scrapbook is filled with photos of cyclists, mostly French, but one can find at least one

Belgian and an Italian. A comic brass likeness of Jacques Tati seated on a brass bicycle

serves as a weathervane perched on the highest gable of the Souza home. Regarding the

unmistakably Portuguese décor in the Souza’s casa portuguesa as just described, where

did French film director Sylvain Chomet acquire so many precise and carefully observed

symbolic referents to a Lusitanian household? In an interview conducted in Montréal

where Chomet has been based since 1993,13 he mentioned that he frequented a

Portuguese restaurant located in the Portuguese quartier of that city, and that experiences

there influenced his decision to depict an elderly Portuguese woman as a protagonist in

his new film.14 It is reasonable to suppose that the Portuguese restaurant was decorated

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with Portuguese objets similar to the ones on display in Madame Souza’s house back in

France. One phrase often used in pre-Revoutionary days to refer to the Portuguese was

the trinity of “Fátima, Football, e Fado,”15 referring to an almost fanatical adherence to

religion, Roman Catholicism, to soccer and sports in general, and to typical Portuguese

music. Chomet’s main characters, Madame Souza and Champion, typify at least the

second aspect of this stereotype rather well by their evident dedication to the sport of

cycling. Madame Souza’s song introduced earlier, “Uma casa portuguesa,” may be

categorized as fado. The version of this song and others as sung by Amália Rodrigues,

incidentally, are popular among the French.16

Added to the burden of certain real, physical and non-physical hardships and

limitations mentioned earlier, it is important to recognize Madame Souza’s status as an

immigrant from Portugal residing in France forty or fifty years ago within the time frame

shown in the movie. As is typical of the Portuguese who have chosen to reside in France,

she retains a strong sense of her Portuguese identity and origins.17 Her casa portuguesa in

France is just one of very, very many such Portuguese homes in the land of the Gauls. As

background to provide a better understanding of what Madame Souza represents, and to

13 “Triplets of Belleville,” interviews (online) with Sylvain Chomet andcollaborators, 1 Dec. 2006 <http://www.sonyclassics.com>.

14 Magdalena Segertova, “Les triplettes de Belleville sortent en salles cheques,”

Interview with S. Chomet, 11 Nov. 2003, Radio Prague. 26 Nov. 2006. <http://www.radio.cz/fr/edition/47886>.

15 Victor Pereira, “L’Etat portugais et les portugais en France de 1958 à 1978,” Lusotopie: enjeux contemporains dans les espaces lusophones, (2002): 24.

16 Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999) known as the Rainha do Fado (Queen of the Fado) remains an internationally known Portuguese vocalist. Several French citizens once told me that they were studying the Portuguese language in order to understand the lyrics to her songs.

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determine additional reasons why director/cartoonist Chomet may have chosen for his

main character a Portuguese old lady (instead of one belonging to another ethnic,

immigrant minority), let us review what has been the experience of the Portuguese in

France in the past century, and what image the French themselves hold concerning those

thousands of individuals of Portuguese origin now living in their midst.

According to Chomet, Didier Brunner of the production company Les Armateurs

(Shipbuilders) proposed that he make a longer, animated film following the model of his

successful “The Old Lady and the pigeons.”18 When it became clear that it would be too

costly on account of projected royalty payments to use the same old lady from the former

film, he decided to use as a model persons whom he had observed in a Portuguese

restaurant in Montréal, a city where he had been based since 1993, because the

Portuguese possessed a “gentillesse naturelle et ça a fonctionné bien avec ce que je

voulais que ce personnage fasse.”19 In the light of these positive words, Chomet’s choice

to portray hyperbolically a clubfooted, stubborn old Portuguese grandmother should be

interpreted as none other than a compliment to the Portuguese in general. The treatment

of ethnic minorities in film these days is a somewhat “touchy” area fraught with potential

problems and pitfalls. Therefore, it may be that Chomet and Brunner consciously

considered the Portuguese minority the least likely to be offended by the rather likeable

17 On the strong identidade nacional among Portuguese immigrants to France, see: Michel Poinard, “Bilans et leçons de l’immigration portugaise en France,” Espace , populations, sociétés 2 (1993), 397, and Sergio Lopes,“Os portugueses e as metamorfoses do racismo em França.” Revista crítica de ciencias sociais. 34, 34 (1992) 352.

18 “Triplettes de Belleville,” <http://www.sonyclassics.com>.

19 Segertova, <http://www.radio.cz/fr/edition/47886>.

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and inoffensive caricature visible in Madame Souza. The French these days reportedly

have a rather high opinion of the “invisible” Portuguese immigrant in their midst,20 and

Mr. Chomet – who is himself French – appears to partake of this view of the Portuguese

wholeheartedly; however, his sympathetic views concerning foreigners may be informed

by his personal experience as an emigrant (to Canada). Portuguese immigrants have not

in the past always been viewed in a such a positive way by the French.21 When and why

did the thousands of persons Madame Souza represents depart Portugal for France?

A Portuguese contingent of soldiers fought with the Allies in France during World

War I22 as certainly those who have visited the commemorative military museum the

tomb of the unknown Portuguese soldier at the Mosteiro de Batalha in Portugal will

recall. About 30,000 former Portuguese soldiers in the 1920’s returned to work in France

for relatively better pay than then available in Portugal.23 The economic crisis of 1929

and the concomitant, diminished availability of jobs resulted in the return of many

Portuguese to their homeland.24 In the 1960’s a rapid modernization and augmented

productivity of French industry was in full expansion, and offered much better paying

jobs than those in Portugal, a veritable “flood” of Portuguese workers, eventually joined

by their families, left their homeland for France.25 The number of Portuguese who

emigrated to France in the period 1958-1974 was at least an astounding 1 million

20 Lopes 351; Poinard 393.

21 Lopes 351; Poinard 397.

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persons, fully 10% of the population of Portugal!26 Most of these emigrants left Portugal

for France for socio-economic reasons, but many also desired to escape military service

in Portugal’s deadly colonial wars in Mozambique and Angola.27 Others emigrated to

escape the harsh dictatorship of former economics professor António Oliveira Salazar

and the infamous PIDE (Polícia Internacional de Defesa do Estado) that tolerated no

dissent.28 A small elite, usually loyal to the Salazar regime, departed Portugal as was

customary since at least the nineteenth century to pursue studies in France,29 while a

number of intellectuals who happened to be political dissidents on the left fled to France

among other destinations.30 Most of the Portuguese went to France to work, and it is the

working class that is faithfully represented in Madame Souza’s casa portuguesa in the

Triplettes film. The result of the huge influx of much needed Portuguese workers in

France, was surely beneficial to an expanding French industry, then engaged in the so-

called “Trente Glorieuses,” the 1946-1975 period that brought an augmented standard of

living for the French populace.31 The law of unintended consequences was also engaged:

The Portuguese experience in France, a land of open democracy, enlightenment, liberty,

prosperity and opportunity eventually resulted in profound changes back in Portugal.32 Of

a million Portuguese residing in France at least 78% returned at least once each year to

the not too distant homeland for a special occasion or on holiday with “new ideas” that

neither the dictator Salazar nor the PIDE could prevent.33 The Portuguese experience in

France benefited France but in the final analysis it greatly benefited Portugal as well, and

became one important factor in preparation for the 25 April 1974 Revolução dos Cravos

followed ten years later by full entry into Europe and acceptance of modernity.34

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Madame Souza may represent, chronologically at least, the earlier immigrants to

France already mentioned above, and her son35 and spouse, seen leaning against a bicycle

in a photo dated 1937 hanging in Champion’s bedroom, would then have belonged to the

second generation in the family to inhabit France. Whatever the reason for the parents’

disappearance, probably through an awful tragedy, Madame Souza is faced with the

difficulty of raising a grandson.36

Linguistics professor Cláudia Aparecida de Oliveira Leite in a brief article,

“Novos caminhos da criação? Reflexões sobre família e infância,” comments that once

Madame Souza discovers the boy’s interest in bicycles, both grandmother and grandson

have a common project to which they can jointly dedicate their efforts: Champion can

structure himself and move forward.37 However, in psychiatric terms, the reality of the

Souzas’ situation is much more serious and complicated. Madame Souza’s plight has

been masterfully described by professional psychoanalyst Alexander Stein in a recent

article, “Tricycles, Bicycles, Life Cycles: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Childhood Loss

and Transgenerational Parenting in Les Triplettes de Belleville.” 38 Dr. Stein finds that in

Les Triplettes filmmaker Chomet has used the perspective of the dream, or the

unconscious, with attendant distortions, attenuations, and hyperbolizations.39 For Stein,

the social criticism present in the film is secondary to the main theme, which is “the

impact of loss and affiliate concerns of mourning and melancholia on developmental

processes at varying stages in the life cycle.” Stein analyzes the psychiatric status, the

inner world of each of the two main characters, Madame Souza and Champion, and

observes that both are linked by their profound loss. The grandmother is traumatized by

her loss and bereavement for a son and daughter-in-law. She willfully accepts to become

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a “double parental surrogate” in an attempt as best she can to fill the void created by the

loss of the boy’s parents 40 The psychology of her grandson, Champion, has been

disfigured by the loss of both parents; as a result he is withdrawn and depressed. His face

reveals a profound sadness, and because he does not utter a single word until the final,

22 Douglas Wheeler, ed., Historical Dictionary of Portugal, 2nd. ed. (Lanham, Maryland and Oxford: The Scarecrow press, 2002) xlvii.

23 Poinard, Hily 58. 24 Poinard, Hily 58.

25 Wheeler xxxvi; Caroline Bretell.“Is the Ethnic community Inevitable? A comparison of Portuguese Immigrants in Toronto and Paris,” The Journal of Ethnic Studies 9.3 (1981) 3. 2

26 Pereira 9. However, since much immigration from Portugual was clandestine, estimated numbers of Portuguese in France have varied. Brettell 3: According to the Office National d’Immigration, by 1974 there were 580,000 legal Portuguese immigrants in France, and at lest one third of these resided in or near Paris; Poinard 389: “En 1975, avec plus de 750,000 ressortissants, la “communauté” portugaise devient la première “communauté” étrangère en France.” On 13 October 2006 the RTP news reported that each year 50,000 Portuguese emigrate to other countries in Europe. However, the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE) has reported a lower official number: in 2003 27, 000 Portuguese left to take jobs, 75% listed as temporary, in the EU. I wish to thank my wife’s cousin, João Silva Nunes, cardoiologista em Lisboa, for the later information, which he located at http//www.ine.pt/Pl/genero/Principal.asp.

27 Wheeler xxxvi.

28 Pereira 19; Wheeler 126. My wife Elsa, who lived in Portugal through 1958, has reminded me that under the facist Salazar regime, it was customary to “Comer e calar, e gostar de Salazar.”

29 Wheeler 72-2-73; Pereira 12.

30 Socialist Mário Soares became a professor at the Sorbonne, Edouardo Lourenço(?) took a post at the Université d’Aix-en-Provence, Manuel de Oliveira … (?); these are just are a few names that come to mind of noted intellectuals who went into exile in France.

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ironical scene in the film, we can only suppose what his thoughts and ambitions really

are.

Champion is not true to his name, and despite the earnest, loving strivings of his

doting grandmother, Madame Souza, he fails to achieve the lofty expectations that his

parents obviously had intended when they chose that name for him. Champion is

ultimately a failure in life, a non-person, an anti-hero. He does not change or develop

much in the film. The contingencies and limitations affecting Champion as a

consequence of the tragic loss of both parents are multiple and cannot be replaced fully

by a single, female grandparent. Though she is well-intentioned and energetic in her

efforts to assist her grandson, Champion, whose sole ardent, childish desire is to become

a star, professional cyclist, cycling turns out not to be the best career choice for grandma

31 Jean Fourastié, authored the influential commentary on “Les Trente Glorieuses,” Fayard, 1979.

32 Pereira 27.

33 Felix Neto and Etienne Mullet, “Aspects du vécu des travailleurs portugais en region parisienne.” Studi emigrazione. Etudes migrations 24 87 (1987) 425.

34 Pereira 27.

35 Since Champion’s riding shorts have “Souza” written on them in the scene in which his grandmother pulls him up the stairs to tuck him into bed, it is reasonable to assume that “Souza” is his father’s family name and that Madame Souza was the mother of Champion’s father.

36 Chomet may have had a purpose in depicting the difficulty and challenges of transgenerational child rearing in the Triplettes film since his film is an engagé (committed to action) examination of various problems in contemporary society. For a variety of reasons grand- parents are more involved in raising their children’s children than formerly was the case on both sides of the Atlantic, according to:Carole B. Cox, To Grandmother’s house We Go and Stay: Perspectives on Custodial Grandparents (New York: Springer, 2000), p. 3; and Martine Segalen, “Enquête sur la grand-parentalité en France,” Anthropologie et Sociétés 24.3 (2007): 75.

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to foster in the lad, since cycling is a sport in which participants are exposed to certain

dehumanization, exploitation and corruption of unsavory sorts.41 In a substantial segment

of the Triplettes film, Director Chomet satirizes the fascination of the French public for

the annual Tour de France; he does not spare any of the visible hype and hoopla that are

part of the spectacle, namely the extensive media coverage of Le Tour, coupled with

ever-present, constant advertising and product promotion associated with it. Poor

Champion is depicted as la lanterne rouge (the “red lantern,” as on a train’s caboose),

“dead last” in the Tour competition, and becomes easy prey for kidnapping and some

intense exploitation by the mysterious, French underworld. Champion is eventually

liberated from his captors by the heroic actions of a feisty grandmother and her new

friends, the three eccentric sisters who have furnished the title of Chomet’s animated

feature. Champion may be free at last from the clutches of the underworld, but he

remains “figé,” static, a prisoner of his origins and his grandmother’s strong, domineering

character. He unfortunately is prepared best of all it seems to be a spectator rather than a

participant in the business of life, an expert on watching television. Champion’s life

appears to be essentially meaningless and circular, at the end of the film he has grown

old, grandma and Bruno have long since died as we surmise from a photo of them affixed

to the wall behind the television set. However, we hear Madame Souza’s inquiry, the

same as earlier in the film, but the product no doubt of Champion’s fantasy dream world,

37 Oliveira Leite <http://www.proceedings.scielo/br/>.

38 Stein’s article is identified in note three (3) above.

39 Stein 1125.

40 Stein 1127.

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“Has the film ended?” On this occasion, unlike the first when Champion did not respond

to her question, he replies, “It’s over, grandma.”

Film director Chomet’s lucid vision of the western, modern world that Champion

and his grandma inhabit features dark, even pessimistic overtones and warnings. The film

is an engagé work of an intellectuel de gauche42 whose work satirizes social ills of the

1960’s and 1970’s, issues that have only become more pressing thirty and forty years

later in our own accelerated globalized world. In the Triplettes de Belleville Mr. Chomet

presents us with a consumerist society entirely exploited by international big business,43

manipulation of popular culture interests for profit, including sports, doping of athletes,

illegal betting, transnational organized crime, trafficking in humans, and unhealthy living

conditions in big cities -- whether they are located in Europe in North America’s USA

and Canada, or elsewhere.

Permit me some final comments. The Triplettes de Belleville film may be

considered an allegory of the post-modern human condition of Everyman, in the West.

The film is a reminder of one aspect of Voltaire’s Candide: ours is not the best of all

possible worlds!44 Music and rhythm, especially musical performance, essential aspects

of the human condition,45 replace dialogue in the movie, and offer real though temporary

solace and respite. Paradoxically, despite Chomet’s virtual distortions and

hyperbolizations, a necessary element in a cartoon, he captures the reality of our

globalized, dehumanized world, in focus, as in a single photograph, for us to

contemplate.

David A. Ross, Ph.D.California State University, Fresnodavidro@csufresno.edu

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Endnotes

41 Christopher S. Thompson, The Tour de France: A Cultural History, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) 6: “Chapter six examines postwar debates about the Tour as work, relates them to the racers’ longstanding practice of doping, and explores the implications of that practice for their heroic image as France’s géants de la route.” On exploitation see especially pages 185-206. On commercialization of the Tour de France (satirized in the Triplettes film) see Wheatcropft, pp. 170 and 186.

42 Julie Barlow, and Jean-Benoît Nadeau, Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong (why we love France but not the French) (Napeville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2003) 70-71: “…the French prize their intellectuals above all. Unlike North America, the French intellectual is, by definition, not just an expert or a scholar. French intellectuals are, by definition, engagés (committed to a cause) … French filmmakers, and some actors have also earned the status of intellectuals.”

43 Oliveira Leite, op cit: “É o estabelecimento dos vetores da criação no império

do discurso capitalista que tomará neste momento a nossa reflexão… O filme compõe uma crítica primorosa ao modelo capitalista … uma convite a nossa reflexão sobre a cultura do excesso e da implicação desse modelo nas relações familiares e sociais. O filme revela os moldes de uma sociedade consumista por excelência, que não poupa aqueles que não são mais consumíveis/consumistas.”

44 My own edition of Voltaire’s Candide, ou l’optimisme scheduled to appear Februry 2007: Newark, Del., European Masterpieces; ISBN 1-58977-038-2.

45 Daniel J. Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (New York: Penguin Group, 2006) 241-261: Chapter 9, “The Music Instinct, Evolution’s #1 Hit.”

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