COME OUT OF YOUR SHELL.

After the death of her best friend, the lonely Grace Pudel tells her pet snail Sylvia the story of her life.

Adam Elliot, who previously won an Oscar for his short Harvie Krumpet (2003), returned with another ”clayography”, as he calls them: stop-motion animated films where the story is inspired by events from his real life. Certainly not for children, this is a frequently hilarious and adult tragicomedy that illustrates a lifetime of sorrows, but in a way that also keeps us laughing. Ultimately, there’s a moving message about the need to break out of one’s comfortable shell.

Irresistible, quaint details in the animation; aided by a lovely score.

2024-Australia. Animated. 94 min. Color. Written and directed by Adam Elliot. Music: Elena Kats-Chernin. Voices of Sarah Snook (Grace Pudel), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Gilbert Pudel), Jacki Weaver (Pinky), Eric Bana, Magda Szubanski, Dominique Pinon… Nick Cave.

Last word: “When I was trying to come up with a creature or animal that Grace would collect, I thought of ladybirds, pigs and ducks. There’s something about snails I found really fascinating and a great metaphor for Grace’s mental state. You attach a snail’s antennae and they retract into its shell. I love that because that’s what Grace is doing — she’s constantly retracting from the world. And I love the spiral on a snail’s shell. A beautiful little pattern. For us, that was very symbolic of life going full circle and a lovely visual motif to have throughout the film.” (Elliot, Animation Scoop)