I love Laloux! Can’t wait to watch this and add my thoughts! Thanks, Deck
Wow!! I’m a big fan of Laloux’s Sci-Fi Dystopia!!
I gotta watch it ASAP!!
Thanks Deckard for the write up!!
I’m watching this right now and it’s pretty interesting— but the music in the movie is absolutely awful. I find it very distracting.
Thanks for the introduction Deck! I think you hit many of the important themes in Laloux’s films. This one in particular (and I watched Light Years- the English version) is probably my least favorite of all the Laloux films I have seen. As I mentioned in the post above, the music was such cheesy 80’s crap that it actually distracted my attention from the film itself.
What I enjoyed was how he played with the idea of non-linear time—something I always find interesting and thought provoking. At first it annoyed me to repeated hear ‘was/will be’ but it’s an interesting concept to think that the future, present, and pass are all happening concurrently and also effect each other. In this film, the concept just seemed a little forced through its dialogue. And to be honest, I’m not sure if I completely understand ‘time’ in this movie.
Something else that was mentioned in the introduction was how Laloux’s films often touch upon the theme of self-destruction. I do like to see this portrayed in film/literature because it’s such an important thing to consider. How many times are maladies, ‘natural’ disasters, etc just a consequence of our own poor, impulsive, and selfish choice making? Just earlier today I was talking to a friend about the idea of accepting personal responsibility and stories like this just underscore what can happen if we fail to do this.
It is, in its own way, frustrating, and this film is not immune to this tendency of his.
Deck, can you expand on this? Why is it frustrating to you?
If you can get ahold of the French version, I’d highly recommend seeing that. There’s a torrent out there that’s pretty well seeded …
As I said, the music was changed in the English version, I have no idea what the English music is like, but I love the original music.
Why is it frustrating to you?
Well, a major problem is Laloux’s inability to express what he wants to say in any subtle way. He has some excellent ideas, but those are often lost in the translation (no pun intended). This is frustrating because the ideas are there, they’re just not often communicated very well (narratively this is usually the case…visually, Laloux is in his element and this ‘saves’ him more often than not).
What other Laloux films have you seen, Natasha?
LA PRISONNIÈRE
HOW WANG-FO WAS SAVED (my favorite!!!)
FANTASTIC PLANET
THE SNAILS
DEAD TIMES
I agree with you that visually Laloux is amazing.
I watched the version linked above, Light Years.
My immediate response to it was the sexual/gender stereotyping in relation to the nature/technology conflict (and associated emotion/logic-freedom/stricture conflicts). Specifically the matriarchal Gandaharians—who have deliberately avoided advancing their technology (as the [male] adviser Blaminhor points out, adding that it was against his advice), whose weapons are simultaneously instruments of growth and life—versus the obviously phallic Metamorphis and his male metallic army—male or female when they were transported to the future, they came back as male: “we are he”, at least according to the language in this English version.
Of course, any overly simplistic generalizations are undermined by the revelation of the Deformed’s origin, and subverted finally (for me) by the entrance of Sylvain and Airelle into Metamorphis, where they are absorbed by what appear to be Fallopian tubes (although, perhaps this is an implication that the femininity of Metamorphis, though present, is deep inside, whereas its masculinity is apparent both in its appearance and its voice—again, at least in this English language version, for which Christopher Plummer provides the voice—and, perhaps in its actions, thus reinforcing the generalization rather than invalidating it).
The revelation that the Deformed (and Metamorphis) actually are not only products of Gandahar’s experimentation (and, most damning, its subsequent disposal) do show that the initially Utopian-seeming Gandahar has its own unpleasantness, and were the movie denser or longer (it has a problem that adaptations often have, which is that they imply a larger, more complex story, but they elide too much to do it justice—two examples I can think of offhand are The Golden Compass and Howl’s Moving Castle—during several sections of the movie I felt like there was more that should have been included, and that I was missing out on story, as opposed to intent or understanding), I can see there being indications of conflict and generally real interactions between the Gandaharians. As it was, even those who were wronged submitted themselves unquestioningly to those who had wronged them, making them somewhat two dimensional. (Granted, this may be something of a cultural issue, given that it is not unimaginable that within certain worldviews the Deformed’s response would be the most logical/just—however, the idea that such a worldview is being applied is contradicted by a point raised below)
The exception, of course, being Metamorphis. Should his motivation have been some sort of revenge, or justice even—should the destruction of Gandahar been an effort to eliminate the the tendency of the people to experiment with life without considering the repercussions, and with the willingness to throw away any unpleasant results (despite the sapience of said results)—would Metamorphis be a more understandable villain (perhaps even the hero?) Regardless, we are instead presented with a Metamorphis who is largely careless, and entirely selfish in his destruction, oversimplifying him. (Again, I can potentially see this other side being something lost, or reduced in the translation to film—the metallic men do, at one point, mention their unity, but this unity is shown to be false in the sense that their unity is derived from their being derived from Metamorphis; that is, rather than their unity being of a more democratic nature, where they are one because their individual selves contribute to the whole, it is of a totalitarian nature where they are one because the whole contributes to [invalidates] the individual selves—any potentially relatable aspects of the villains are nonexistent, ultimately. (This is the point mentioned above: the chance to present the community as the best basic level of human existence is missed in the display of the one group which might fit into it, the metal men, who instead are shown to be insane in their devotion to the group.)
Metamorphis, it seems to me, ultimately is a product of over rationalized, selfish self deception. He recognizes that he is the cause of the problem, but he makes the differences between the present and future selves serve as explanation, when, in actuality, it is what is the same between past/present/future Metamorphis which causes his destructive impulse, namely, his fear of death. The movie was interesting, and perhaps I will watch the original version both to see if there are any narrative differences and to hear the musical differences (although, unlike Venus, I was not annoyed by the music, with a couple of exceptions); Yared is listed as a composer for this version, but as one of three.
This was, to my recollection, my introduction to Laloux; thanks to you both.
VENUS SANDS “I do like to see this [self-destruction] portrayed in film/literature because it’s such an important thing to consider.”
If you appreciate this theme, and if you gain any enjoyment from written science fiction, I would suggest James Tiptree, Jr. aka Racoona Sheldon aka Alice B. Sheldon. If you are not already familiar with her short stories, they deal with this in a variety of ways, many not so simple as should we should we not (perhaps most are actually a matter of can we not rather than should we not).
There are two youtube versions. The sixth section of the better quality one is not working for some reason, so I haven’t finished this, yet! I’m liking it so far, though.
Yeah—- I had to switch to the bad quality version and then back to good version for a couple sections :(
A. Smith— you have noted so many interesting things above. I mean to come back and digest it all when I’m done writing reports for work! Thanks for the writeup!
Laloux’s How Wang Fo was Saved is brilliant. I’ll definitely be watching this, Deck. Thanks for the intro.
OK, I finally finished this.
I must say that while I liked the film overall, I don’t know if I have much to say about it. I do agree with Venus that the music was pretty annoying—basically, bad 80’s electronic music (think of a bad version of the score to Tron). But I must say that my viewing could contribute to this—I saw overall several different times and some of the video quality was pretty bad at times. I’ll try to go back and read the rest of the thread.
I do have a question. So what was the thing that couldn’t be avoided but would be? And what was the deal with the birds carrying the giant head at the end?
I only watched the French version through to the credits (along with the US version) to compare music. From what I could tell, the music was similar if not the same (there were quality differences) for the most part, but in the US version the music during the credit sequence—though the basic melody seemed to be the same—was made synthy/lasery and much more bombastic.
Also, while I like the Asimov quote at the start, the voice over was completely unnecessary (in the US version) and was absent in the French version I saw.
The French version is far superior and they know it as usual.
That said Fantastic Planet was far superior to this. Both excellent though and such a great off-the-beaten-path animated find. This man was a genius.
Thanks A Smith for your comments on social and genre aspects for both, the Gandaharians and the Metal Men. Some dialogues related to time/language relation were really relevant for the story, even when the latter lacked in characters’ depth.
The forced transformation into devoted Metal, serial, massive, men seemed to me as a very obvious metaphor or, better to say, indication. The interesting role rested then in the selfish and complex Metamorphis, who ironically is motionless, and the only thing that seems to change about him is his speech and not his physical form or shape.
Imo, Gandahar is more content than form. Characters are passive and heavy in general, in spite of their physiological and psychological differences and story is told most of the time by words and not by images. Unfortunately, as a result of the interesting thesis on time/language, when we see a surprising event, then inmediately after that, it comes the respective explanation.
Just in case anyone is looking for it, the VF is available here (on MV).
In any case, I am happy that we finally have some animation on SW&A. However, I’m afraid this was never one of my favourites. I never found the philopsophy particularly interesting, the entire film is more of a cariacature. I mean come on… Queen Ambisextra and the feminine council?
Anonymouse- Here is a link to another thread on SW&A on an animation film. I highly recommend the movie.
Krysař
I, too found the philosophy so-so. I think it could have been better or more thought-provoking, but it fell short of my expectations. Though in general, Laloux ranks high for me. I typically really enjoy his movies.
Well… technology both creates and solves the problem? What is that?
Huh?
I mean the entire conflict. Conflict in the film is both created and solved by technology. Some kind of weird mutation program or whatever creates the evil creature that is eventually defeated (in the future) by more advanced technology.
@Deck
I didn’t find the issue of nature versus technology very interesting. What I liked best is the use of time in the film, especially in relation to Metamorphis character.
@A Smith
You said, Regardless, we are instead presented with a Metamorphis who is largely careless, and entirely selfish in his destruction, oversimplifying him.
Wait. Doesn’t the present version of Metamorphis send Sylvain into the future to kill his future self? (Of course, when he gets there the future version doesn’t want to be killed.) If this is true, then I don’t know if we can call him selfish.
Well… technology both creates and solves the problem? What is that?
That is what’s interesting about how Laloux handles the issue of ‘nature versus technology’, Jazz. ;)
By the way … I finally got around to watching the English version and yeah, the soundtrack is atrocious. Please if anyone can get their hands on the original version please do so. There’s such a great new age mysticism behind the original soundtrack – in the English version it’s continually bookended with blippy tripe and thus, in that context, loses all value it once had. The voiceover is completely unnecessary as well.
And then…the translation in the English version is a lot different as well. This really irks me because a rather decent film is completely ruined by such commercial and predictable pandering.
So yes, there is a huge difference in the two versions: the translation, the voiceover, and the soundtrack. Two completely different films in my mind.
I seriously loved the music. I guess I’m the only one. I thought the plot was absurd and the characters were such ridiculous stereotypes (as mentioned, Queen Ambisextra, metal shell bad guys, being thrown into eggs as the main part of the transformation process, literally deformed people who live literally underground), why not make the music smack you over the head with it’s cheesy 80’s sci-fi-ness too. And if that was it’s goal, it is one of the most appropriate soundtracks I know of.
Besides the music and some good visuals, I thought it was just ok. I’m a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy because of it’s ability to isolate a specific human condition and allow the rest to be exaggerated to absurdity. For me, this story didn’t maintain anything relatable and everything was exaggerated. I’m guessing he was looking to let the philosophy shine through with his main points about nature vs technology, but I didn’t find anything human about this world to help translate the message from Gandahar to Earth.
That being said, I’m always happy to watch a movie with imaginative visuals and a badass synth-rock soundtrack.
Side note: I’ve been busy for the last bunch of months, very happy to have found this is still an active group. Great job with it.
deckard croix
GANDAHAR (1988)
Directed by Rene Laloux
Based on the novel, Les Hommes-machines contre Gandahar (The Machine-Men versus Gandahar) by Jean-Pierre Andrevon
“In a thousand years, Gandahar was destroyed and all its people massacred. A thousand years ago, Gandahar will be saved and the inevitable avoided.”
Laloux’s Gandahar (also known as Light Years) is signature-style Laloux. For anyone who’s familiar with Fantastic Planet and Laloux’s penchant for science fiction/fantasy themes with a quasi-philosophical slant, one should know what to expect here. In that film, he explored the conflict of superstition and knowledge (or rather, scientific knowledge); here, he explores the conflict of technology and nature – but to say this is only what Gandahar is about would be misleading.
It is a commingling of fable and dystopia; a “cautionary tale” one might say, but that would be too serious a label. The ideas presented in Gandahar are common themes in science fiction, and one would be hard-pressed to say that these themes are fully developed in this film, nevertheless, the creativity of the animated style and the surrealism of the music makes it worthwhile viewing.
There are potential ‘spoilers’ ahead, so please watch the film before reading this.
As in Fantastic Planet, the land of Gandahar is a deceptively peaceful place where the populace lives in comfortable serenity. One day, an army of metal robots invade the land, petrifying citizens and encasing them in an egg-like shell. These prisoners are later transported through a portal where they soon return … as metal robots.
This is another recurring theme in Laloux’s work: self-destruction. Of course, he’s taking it to the literal extreme, but he still revels in that fascination of how we, as humans, are constantly at war with each other and are often our own worst enemies.
These “Machine-Men” are themselves, nothing but a hollow shell, housing but a single pink cube (representative of the “soul” perhaps). They are indestructible by most human means and the accuracy of their paralyzing lasers are, for the most part, horribly precise.
Also contributing to this theme are what are known in the film as “The Deformed.” Originally, these attacks are attributed to them because they are physically different than the rest of Gandahar and must be (by such logic) untrustworthy. They are mutated experiments who live in the desert regions and speak in dual tenses. Ashamed of their present state, they refer to all things in both past and future tense.
Queen Ambisextra (just one in a long line of intriguing names such as Maxum, Blaminhor, and Octum), upon the insistence of her council (who are strangely over-eager in this regard), sends her son, Sylvain (their most skilled warrior apparently) to investigate this scourge.
The cause of all this turmoil originates from a being known as Metamorphis. This is where the story gets convoluted. Metamorphis insists that he isn’t responsible for this madness, but he clearly is. He attributes this to some strange kind of time displacement, where he, mad in the future, sends these Machine Men to take over.
There’s always a certain amount of unpredictability in Laloux’s work, especially in the way he defies an audience’s expectations one moment and completely adheres to a clichéd progression the next. It is, in its own way, frustrating, and this film is not immune to this tendency of his. Perhaps one could call this underdevelopment in a narrative-sense (I do), perhaps something else.
Having not seen the English-language version (anyone who has, please share your thoughts on the differences if any and if you prefer it to the original-language), I’m commenting on French version. From that I’ve read, one major difference is the music. I’m a huge fan of Gabriel Yared’s original soundtrack, so I’m skeptical of the removal of this in the English version.
Yared’s music provides such a great accompaniment to the opening credit sequence. Just the way the credits move from name to name just a little behind the rhythm of the music is just spot on.
What are all your thoughts?
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