I love independent films, especially those with animation. Admittedly, I didn’t know much about Marcel Pagnol but a good film doesn’t require prior knowledge to enjoy. In this case, I found the animation style whimsical, well designed and the film is a fantastical biography that taught me much about Marcel Pagnol, his life and kept me engaging and riveted to the screen.
A Magnificent Life is an adult animated biographical drama written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. In the movie, 60 year old Marcel Pagnol (Laurent Lafitte) is a well known and acclaimed playwright and filmmaker. When he is commissioned by the editor-in-chief of Elle Magazine, in 1955, to write a weekly column about his childhood, Marcel sees it as an opportunity to go back to his artistic roots. But realizing his memory is failing him and impacted by the reviews of his most recent plays, Marcel doubts his ability to complete the work. Until the vision of his childhood self joins him and takes him on a journey, bringing back to life his most important memories and encounters.
What is wondrous about animation is the ways it can escape the confines of film, the restrictions of live movies and create magical moments that don’t require the same necessities. In the real world, Marcel Pagnol died in 1974 but in this animated movie, he is brought back to life through the magic of animation and the skills of the voice actor playing him. And because it is animated, this also allows flights of whimsy like the vision of Marcel’s boyhood self visiting him and leading him through his most cherished moments in life, both good and bad.
The animation itself is well designed, realistic when needed but allowing more fantastical aspects to the biographical drama. There is a quality to the film, almost watercolor at points, that allows the viewer to sink into the memories that are shared on the screen. When interspersed with the films that Marcel Pagnol created, it creates a rich dynamic to the movie and to his life, giving a solid understanding of his life and insight into his impact as both a playwright and a filmmaker. 
The film is insightful, allowing a great view on an influential talented man but also not afraid to shine a light on his full life, and adding humor along the way, especially with the various actors he knew and the way his work was created. And while the film does skim over some points in time, it lingers over the most impactful moments in his life, such as when his first wife left him or when his daughter Estelle was born. We get to see how the various people in Marcel’s life impacted him, like his mother, the death of his brother or even his father’s approval. And the story was not only engaging but the visual aspects were charming.
If you like biographical drama or animation, I do recommend A Magnificent Life. Not only does the voice actor do a beautiful job with the content but the film is engaging, insightful and takes the viewer on a fantastical biography of an amazing person who influenced writing, plays and film in France, carrying the country forward into the twentieth century. The movie is a wonderful journey into the life of Marcel Pagnol.
Rating: 4 out of 5 pens.
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