The Red Turtle

The Red Turtle
Directed by Michaël Dudok de Wit
Produced by
  • Toshio Suzuki[1]
  • Vincent Maraval
  • Pascal Caucheteux
  • Grégoire Sorlat
  • Léon Perahia
Written by
Music by Laurent Perez del Mar
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • 18 May 2016 (2016-05-18) (Cannes)
  • 29 June 2016 (2016-06-29) (France)
  • 17 September 2016 (2016-09-17) (Japan)
Running time
 80 minutes
Country
  • France
  • Belgium
  • Japan
Language None[4]
Box office $4.7 million[5]

The Red Turtle (French: La Tortue Rouge; Japanese: レッドタートル ある島の物語, translit. Reddo Tātoru: Aru Shima no Monogatari) is a 2016 French-Belgian-Japanese animated fantasy drama film co-written and directed by Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit and produced by Toshio Suzuki from Japan. The film is a co-production between Wild Bunch and Studio Ghibli, and tells the story of a man who becomes shipwrecked on a deserted island and meets a giant red female turtle. The film has no dialogue.[4] It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.[6][7] The film was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film for the 89th Academy Awards.

Plot

A nameless man set adrift by a storm wakes up on a deserted island. Finding fresh fruit and water, as well as variety of animals and a sweeping forest of bamboo, the man decides to leave the island. The man builds a raft from bamboo, and attempts to sail away. However, an unseen sea creature destroys the raft, forcing the man back to the island. Attempting to escape with another raft, his plan is foiled again by the sea creature. Trying a third time his raft being destroyed again, but once he is in the water he finds a female red turtle facing him. The turtle does not harm the man. The man retreats back to the island.

That evening, the man sees the red turtle crawling on the shore, attempting to go inland. In revenge, he hits the red turtle on the head with a bamboo stick, and pushes it over on its back. After halfway through building another raft, the man starts to feel guilty about leaving the turtle upside down, so he catches a fish and tries to feed it to the turtle, but finds that it has died. The turtle's shell splits down the middle during the night, and to the man's surprise, the turtle turns into a woman. The man tries to revive her, making a shelter over her to protect her from the sun. When rain hits the island, the woman wakes up. The man notices she has gone, and searches the island for her, finally seeing that she is in the coastline. Giving her his shirt, he eventually sees the woman dragging the now empty turtle shell into the sea. The man does the same with his half-built raft. The two soon form a strong and enduring romance.

Some years later, the couple have a son who finds a bottle washed up on shore. After accidentally falling into a small cavern, the son forms a peculiar relationship with other turtles in the ocean. Growing up, the son grows accustomed to the island. When he goes into the island for fresh water with his bottle, a tsunami hits the island. Though no one is severely hurt, the island's forest is nearly demolished by it. After burning the remains of bamboo, the son finds his bottle in an oasis in the island. Deciding to leave the island, the son bids his parents farewell, and swims away with a trio of turtles.

Growing old together, the man and woman spend the rest of their lives on the island. The man dies peacefully one night, while looking at the moon. The woman, holding the man's hand one more time, transforms back into the red turtle he had met all those decades ago, and returns to the sea.

Production

The film was co-produced by Wild Bunch and Studio Ghibli in association with Why Not Productions. According to Vincent Maraval, head of Wild Bunch, he visited Studio Ghibli in Japan in 2008 and met with Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki showed him the short film Father and Daughter and asked him to find its director, Michaël Dudok de Wit, with the prospect of co-producing a feature film. Wild Bunch approached Dudok de Wit in London and convinced him to take on the project. The screenplay was written by Dudok de Wit and Pascale Ferran.[8][9]

Release

The film premiered on 18 May at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed in the Un Certain Regard section.[10] On 13 June, it was screened as the opening film of the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.[11] The regular French release was 29 June 2016.[12] It was released in Japan on 17 September 2016.[13] In May 2016, Sony Pictures Classics acquired the North and Latin American distribution rights for the film[14] and was released in the United States on 20 January 2017. The Red Turtle was played in the London Film Festival on 5 October 2016 and eventually released internationally by StudioCanal on May 26th 2017.

Reception

Critical response

The Red Turtle received critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94% score based on 107 reviews, with an average of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Red Turtle adds to Studio Ghibli's estimable legacy with a beautifully animated effort whose deceptively simple story boasts narrative layers as richly absorbing as its lovely visuals."[15] Metacritic reports a 86 out of 100 rating, based on 30 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[16]

Accolades

List of awards and nominations
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Academy Awards February 26, 2017 Best Animated Feature Michaël Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki Nominated [17]
[18]
Annie Awards February 4, 2017 Best Animated Feature — Independent The Red Turtle Won [19]
Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production Mouloud Oussid Nominated
Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production Michaël Dudok de Wit Nominated
Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production Laurent Perez del Mar Nominated
Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Feature Production Michaël Dudok de Wit and Pascale Ferran Nominated
Cannes Film Festival May 21, 2016 Un Certain Regard Special Prize Michaël Dudok de Wit Won [2]
Prize Un Certain Regard Nominated
Camera d'Or Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association December 15, 2016 Best Animated Film The Red Turtle Nominated [20]
Critics' Choice Awards December 11, 2016 Best Animated Feature Nominated [21]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association December 4, 2016 Best Animated Film Runner-up [22]
Magritte Award February 4, 2017 Best Foreign Film in Coproduction Nominated [23]
Best Sound Nils Fauth and Peter Soldan Nominated
Online Film Critics Society January 3, 2017 Best Animated Feature The Red Turtle Nominated [24]
San Francisco Film Critics Circle December 11, 2016 Best Animated Feature Won [25]
[26]
Satellite Awards February 19, 2017 Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature Nominated [27]
Toronto Film Critics Association December 11, 2016 Best Animated Film Runner-up [28]

References

  1. ↑ "The Red Turtle - descriptions". Prima Linea Productions. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 Amidi, Amid (May 22, 2016). "Michael Dudok de Wit’s ‘The Red Turtle’ Wins At Cannes". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  3. ↑ "The Red Turtle French press kit" (PDF) (in French). Wild Bunch. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 May 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 Amidi, Amid (13 May 2016). "Watch the Trailer for Michael Dudok de Wit’s ‘The Red Turtle,’ Debuting At Cannes". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "The Red Turtle (2017) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "2016 Cannes Film Festival Announces Lineup". IndieWire. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Cannes 2016: Film Festival Unveils Official Selection Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Père, Olivier (18 February 2014). "Arte France Cinéma coproduit The Red Turtle, premier long métrage d’animation de Michael Dudok de Wit". arte.tv (in French). Arte. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (24 April 2014). "Wild Bunch unveils first titles on Cannes slate". Screen Daily. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Screenings Guide" (PDF). Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  11. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (28 April 2016). "Annecy animation festival unveils 2016 line-up". Screen International. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "La Tortue rouge". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  13. ↑ "Studio Ghibli Co-Produced Film The Red Turtle Opens Next September". Anime News Network. December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  14. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (19 May 2016). "Cannes: Sony Pictures Classics Takes 'The Red Turtle'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Red Turtle (La tortue rouge) (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  16. ↑ "The Red Turtle Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  17. ↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (January 24, 2017). "Oscars: 'La La Land' Ties Record With 14 Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Oscar Nominations: Complete List". Variety. January 24, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  19. ↑ "44th Annie Award Nominees". International Animated Film Society. November 28, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  20. ↑ "The 2016 Chicago Film Critics Association Award Nominees". Chicago Film Critics Association. December 11, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Critics' Choice Awards". Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  22. ↑ "42nd Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2016 Winners". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. December 4, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Magritte du Cinéma: "Les premiers les derniers" et "Keeper" sont favoris". La Libre Belgique (in French). 10 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  24. ↑ "20th Annual Online Film Critics Society Awards Nominations". Online Film Critics Society. December 27, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  25. ↑ Flores, Marshall (December 9, 2016). "San Francisco Film Critics Circle Nominations!". AwardsDaily.com. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  26. ↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (December 12, 2016). "'Moonlight' Named Best Picture by San Francisco Film Critics Circle". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  27. ↑ Kilday, Gregg (November 29, 2016). "Satellite Awards Nominees Revealed". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  28. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (December 12, 2016). "'Moonlight' Named Best Film by Toronto Film Critics". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
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