It’s a coming-of-age type story that would be cliché if not for the beautiful animation and the severed hand.
I Lost My Body
Likes: The animation is stunning, and a worthwhile endeavor compared to a lot of typical stuff out there. The music also deserves a shoutout.
Dislikes: The story beats can feel a bit by the numbers.
Bottom Line: Catcher in the Rye meets The Incredible Journey only there’s a severed hand.
4 out of 5. ◆◆◆◆◇
What does it mean to be severed? To be separated from your body, from yourself?
I’ve been thinking about that concept a lot about recently. The metaphorical implications have stayed with me since I watched I Lost My Body and I think can be emotionally resonant with anyone.
Our main character in this animated French film, Naoufel (Hakim Faris), is severed in more ways than one. From flashbacks we learn he was cut off from loving parents at an early age (tragically, they are listed in the credits simply as “Pere” and “Mere”, as if Naoufel cannot remember their real names) and what looked like a middle-class lifestyle. As a teenager, Naoufel lives in a cramped room with a crass and bullying fellow orphan Rafouf (Bellamine Abdelmalek) and distant foster guardian who demands payment from the boys.
I think it’s not a coincidence that Naoufel looks to be of Middle Eastern or North-African descent. France has a horrid history of colonialism and exploitation in those areas that has bled over into modern day anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic sentiment. Films like 1995’s La Haine and this year’s Les Miserables show that this is deep shatterpoint in the French psyche that unfortunately hasn’t progressed much. While not directly about this subject, by making Naoufel a minority, I Lost My Body severs its main character from truly belonging to a national identity.
Oh yeah. And there’s a literal severed hand that is journeying toward home like Chance, Shadow and Sassy, the animals from Homeward Bound.
The hand itself is animated beautifully and is able to display emotion even with just five fingers and a stump. As it sits on a windowsill, we instinctively know that the fingers are legs hanging over the edge. I Lost My Body’s director, Jérémy Clapin, was very deliberate about this choice and the hand’s characterization.
Per an interview with beforeandafters.com, Clapin said, “I had to be careful to not be ‘scary’ with the way the hand walked, i.e. not too much like a spider or the facehugger from Alien. It was really a challenge to also not be too funny, or cute. I wanted something natural, even though it’s not natural to see a hand walking.”
As scenes shift between Naoufel and the hand, we each character progressing on their journey. Naoufel develops a crush on Gabrielle (Victoire Du Bois), a girl he delivers pizza to and starts apprenticing for Gigi (Patrick d’Assumçao), a woodworker. On the other hand (haha), the hand must navigate through many dangers including pigeons, rats, the subway, an icy river, a blind man and his dog, and much more. It all leads to an emotional climax and a resolution that doesn’t answer, but instead wonders if something severed can ever really be reattached.
This shows the general process the animators took when creating the animation. The full article is very good and I recommend it.
Not quite as adult themed but in a similar ballpark as the Charlie Kaufman penned Anomalisa five-ish years ago, I Lost My Body didn’t really have a chance at the typically kid-friendly Best Animated Oscar. It definitely deserved to be there though. The process of animation through 3D back to 2D through use of a “grease pencil” tool creates a unique look and feel to the film that typical animated fare doesn’t scratch the surface of.
(No, I’m not throwing shade at Toy Story 4 which had some impressive features in it! Don’t @ me!)
On a totally unrelated note, this is like the sixth Netflix property I’ve done in a row. I’ve been thinking about uniqueness and branding (not that this is anything more than a hobby really) and how typically they tell you to find a niche for your content. Is Netflix my niche?
Real Human Bing Movie Thoughts 