Tales of the Night

With a plot that charts the telling of six stories, you might wonder what the background to this French film is. Tales of the Night pulls together five shorts from the French animated series Dragons et princesses and a previously unreleased story. The plots feature princes, sorcerers, handsome commoners and dragons – with an enticing blend of fantasy with history.

Each fable is clearly defined, both by its characters and setting. Throughout this whistle-stop tour of storytelling, we are invited to enjoy the beauty of backdrops including medieval Europe, an Aztec kingdom and even the land of the dead. Throw in a mix of beautifully portrayed characters, ranging from the exquisite to the bizarre (enormous talking bees, anyone?!) and cleverly twisting short stories and you end up with a compendium that flies by in highly enjoyable fashion.

It is very rare these days to come across a film for which the style and directorial approach makes a real impact upon the viewer. With Tales of the Night, Michel Ocelot brings us what is a rare delicacy these days – an animated feature that’s both visually stunning and yet also easy on the eye. The colours are bold and the depth of detail in many of the scenes is breathtaking. Contrast this with the simplest of concepts in the silhouette used to portray the characters in each of the fables and you end up with a depth of storytelling that you wouldn’t have previously imagined possible.

Robert Gardner