Swimming with Braveness: Acclaimed Director Florence Miailhe Discusses Her Award-Successful Brief ‘Papillon’

French animation director, author and artist Florence Miailhe has been a well-recognized determine on the worldwide animation scene with acclaimed shorts comparable to Conte de Quartier, Hammam and her beautiful 2021 characteristic The Crossing (created through the use of oil work on glass). This yr, the sensible artist delivered one other highly effective animated quick titled Papillon, which acquired a César nomination (French Academy Award), a Cristal nomination at Annecy and the Grand Prix at Stuttgart which additionally qualifies it for Oscar consideration. This fantastically crafted, poetic quick is impressed by the lifetime of Alfred Nakache, a French swimming champion that was deported in the course of the Second World War. Nominated for a César earlier this yr (French Academy Award), Papillon is produced by Oscar-winner Ron Dyens (Flow, Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds, Portraits de Voyage) and options music by Pierre Oberkampt. Miailhe was form sufficient to reply a couple of of our questions on her new creation:

Animation Magazine: Can you please inform us a bit concerning the starting of the challenge. When did you determine to inform this highly effective story in animation?

Florence Miailhe: I used to be  getting ready my characteristic movie The Crossing, the challenge was shifting ahead, however we had been struggling to search out the required funding, and at one level, I started to lose hope. I informed myself that perhaps I must quit on this movie. That’s once I began occupied with a brand new challenge, this time for a brief movie. And then, I don’t actually know the way mind works, however a reminiscence got here again to me: that of Alfred Nakache, whom I had met once I was about ten years outdated, and whom my father admired quite a bit.

I remembered that my father knew this swimming champion and at all times spoke of him with nice respect. At the time, I used to be taking swimming classes together with his youthful brother, William Nakache, and at each lesson, my father by no means did not remind me: “You know, William, he’s the little brother of Alfred Nakache, the great swimming champion!”  And at some point, Alfred Nakache got here to the lesson. My father was already fairly outdated — I used to be ten, and he should have been in his fifties — and I keep in mind seeing a person of the identical age arrive, and considering that he was very outdated for a swimming champion.

My father whispered to me, “That’s Alfred Nakache! Show him how you swim the butterfly stroke!” And so, I discovered myself having to do two or three swimming strokes in entrance of him, feeling very embarrassed. So, years later, out of curiosity, I looked for Alfred Nakache on the Internet, and that’s once I found this very shifting story, which I had by no means been informed, in all probability as a result of I used to be too younger. I discovered this story unimaginable. I additionally realized that he had died whereas swimming.

I instantly needed to inform the story of his entire life by this final swim. Especially since he died only some miles from the place I used to swim as a toddler. It all appeared apparent to me: telling this story introduced collectively many themes which might be pricey to me — resilience, transmission, reminiscence, but additionally political points, such because the destiny of a Jewish swimmer dealing with adversity. And then there was additionally this private connection: I had realized to swim with Alfred Nakache’s youthful brother. I nearly felt prefer it was a direct transmission — as if Alfred had taught his brother, who had taught me.

Also, the butterfly stroke… it’s a fantastic stroke, very symbolic.

Finally, there was this connection to water, which I like deeply. I like swimming, I like water. For me, water is a superb manner of telling tales because it carries reminiscence by fluidity. And then, in animation, water provides one thing very refined, very poetic, nearly summary. Representing water additionally evokes emotion, transformation, transition.It all made sense. It was apparent.

How lengthy did it take to make?

Actually, it occurred comparatively shortly. I already had in thoughts how I needed to inform the story, each when it comes to script and narration. It all got here collectively in a short time: writing the script, creating the storyboard… It was apparent to me that the character would dive into the water, and that with every dive, he would get well a reminiscence linked to water. I may actually visualize the movie.

The manufacturing itself took 100 days of animation. There had been three of us engaged on animation after which we had a fast post-production time, so we made the movie in a yr. Which could be very fast… Well, “quick” is relative—it’s animation.

Why do you assume this story is such an incredible match to your particular form of animation?

Animated portray lends itself very properly to what I needed to do, notably when it comes to transitions. I actually get pleasure from engaged on these transitions from one state to a different, and paint actually permits for that. It provides very best visible continuity for clean transitions — for instance, between reminiscences, eras, or feelings.

Animation additionally makes it potential to point out Nakache at totally different ages. In a matter of seconds, we are able to go from an aged man right into a younger man. There’s a scene, for instance, the place we see him swimming as an outdated man, then he dives underwater, and in the course of the dive, his face regularly turns into youthful. This form of transformation works completely in animation.

Another iconic second is when he dives into the water—symbolically, it’s as if he’s diving into his reminiscences of the Second World War. These are very painful reminiscences, and the water turns into cloudy, brown, grey creating an nearly nightmarish ambiance. The pool turns into an area of struggling, laden with reminiscence.

And then there’s this very summary scene, which I didn’t even animate myself and it was magnificent. We see him popping out of the water, and as an alternative of returning to actuality, he finds himself in a panorama with very hanging, nearly dreamlike colours. This passage marks a transition, not towards oblivion or a definitive decision, however towards one other stage.

It is basically by all these transformations and passages that the hyperlink between the totally different layers of the narrative is woven.

Can you describe the visible fashion of the film?

The graphic fashion of the movie is predicated primarily on oil portray, achieved instantly on canvas. This selection provides the movie a really wealthy texture, with the seen grain of the canvas. The brushstrokes carry a visible density and heat that was essential to me.

I additionally selected, notably within the swimming scenes, to deal with motion somewhat than ultra-precise drawing. When the characters are within the water, we by no means actually see the our bodies of their entirety: what issues is the gesture, the motion. Technically, I labored with a number of layers. To simplify: there was a canvas, with a background, varnished for cover. This safety permits to work instantly on the portray, erasing and redrawing actions if wanted.

On prime of this, a glass pane was positioned, onto which layers of oil had been added. This is how I made the actions of the water and the deformation of what was underneath the glass.

The characters had been then animated both instantly on the background or on the glass whether or not they had been underwater or on the floor. Underwater, they turned extra summary, nearly mixing into the setting. On the floor, they had been depicted extra realistically.

Color additionally performed a elementary position. I actually get pleasure from working with colour, and for this movie, every interval of the principle character’s life was related to a specific palette. With the manufacturing designer, Margaux Duseigneur, we established a form of blue chart: sky blue for childhood, turquoise blue for adolescence, navy blue for later life, and a blue verging on purple for the top of his life, when he dives for the final time.

The swimming pools at Auschwitz with uninteresting, muddy, barely greenish, nearly soiled colours. The thought was that every second of his life, every reminiscence, can be linked to a specific colour scheme. All of this has a unconscious impact on the viewer, but it surely was very fastidiously thought out.

Did something shock you about Alfred’s life as you researched it?

As quickly as I got here throughout his story, all the pieces shocked me. It’s an unimaginable life. But a couple of issues made a deep impression on me. The first is his return from the camps. In 1945, he weighed barely 40 and we’re speaking a few top-level athlete right here. It’s surprising to think about a champion’s physique in such a state. And the craziest factor is that in 1948, lower than three years later, he was chosen for the Olympic Games of London. This capability for resilience is what amazed me essentially the most. He skilled absolute horror, and he got here again, swimming once more at a world- class stage. It’s nearly unbelievable.

Then there’s a historic aspect that I used to be fully unaware of: the revocation of Algerian Jews’ citizenship in the course of the Vichy regime. Algerian Jews had obtained French citizenship due to the Crémieux Decree (in 1870). But underneath Vichy, this nationality was taken away from them, they usually turned “Indigenes” as soon as once more.

Which explains why Alfred Nakache was excluded from French competitions: he was now not thought of a French citizen. This a part of colonial and anti-Semitic historical past actually struck me.
Finally, there’s a very painful episode that I found later, whereas studying Pierre Assouline’s ebook. It shouldn’t be informed as such within the movie. When Nakache and his household tried to flee to Spain, they returned to Toulouse as a result of their three-year-old daughter was crying an excessive amount of, they usually didn’t wish to endanger the individuals who had been serving to them escape.

They knew they had been taking an enormous threat, so that they entrusted their daughter to associates. But once they had been denounced, their daughter was too, so she was deported with them. What we study is that ladies arriving at Auschwitz with younger kids had been despatched straight to the fuel chambers. This horrible element signifies that if their daughter had not been arrested, maybe her mom would have survived.

It’s one thing I didn’t embrace within the movie, but it surely moved me deeply.

When I began researching round 2015, there wasn’t a lot data accessible about Alfred Nakache. Even in Toulouse, the place he made his mark on native historical past, not everybody knew who he was, regardless of the swimming pool named after him. I needed to dig deep. Today, whenever you kind his identify right into a search engine, there’s rather more data accessible—due to works comparable to these by Pierre Assouline, performs, radio applications, and articles. There has been an actual rediscovery.

And just lately, he has been inducted within the International Swimming Hall of Fame, spotlighting his story.

And in fact, with the rise of Léon Marchand, his story has additionally resurfaced, as each are sturdy figures in Toulouse swimming (Léon Marchand realized to swim in a pool named after Nakache and was a part of the identical swimming membership, les Dauphins du TOEC).

Can you discuss concerning the significance of telling the story of Alfred Nakache’s heroic life is so essential in our darkish days as we speak?

Because I believe it’s important to recollect sure historic info like this one. The story of Alfred Nakache is that of a Jewish man who not solely survived the horror, but additionally led an extremely heroic life. We should not see Jews solely as victims but additionally as figures of resilience and braveness. And on this sense, Nakache is a robust instance: regardless of what he went by, he carried on and picked himself up.

I additionally assume it’s essential to speak concerning the revocation of his citizenship. This is not only a historic element: it resonates with very present debates, notably on the problem of migrants. Even as we speak, there’s discuss of revoking citizenship, and I believe it’s important to recollect how violent and deeply unfair this may be, and what dramatic penalties it could have on an individual’s life.

Who are your largest animation influences?

I’d say it’s primarily briefly movies, somewhat than characteristic movies. I believe administrators comparable to Jean-François Laguionie, Yuri Norstein or Caroline Leaf. I additionally love the work of Tocafondo. Most of them are very pictorial animations, I’ve at all times been drawn to movies which might be off the crushed observe, that aren’t made within the conventional manner.

What do you hope audiences will take away from Butterfly?

That it’s a message of hope, and a tribute to solidarity in occasions of struggling. Despite the horrible hardships he endured, Nakache discovered inside himself an unbreakable energy that allowed him to rise once more. It reminds us that, even within the darkest moments, we are able to discover the braveness to beat adversity, rebuild ourselves, and carry a message of hope to the world.

This movie invitations us to mirror on very present problems with our troubled world: antisemitism, racism, and worry of others. Even if we always remember, it’s essential to say it so we always remember the tragedies of the Second World War.

Papillon (Butterly) was written and directed by Florence Miailhe and produced by Ron Dyens and co-produced by Luc Camilli (Sacrebleu Productions and Xbo Films).  For extra information, go to sacrebleuprod.fr and xbofilms.com.