Director

Michel Ocelot

France, Belguim, Germany | 2018 | 94 min | French

• Producer Christophe Rossignon, Philip Boëffard
• Production Company Nord-Ouest Films, Studio O, Mars Films
• Screenplay Michel Ocelot
• Cinematography Fréderic Noirhomme
• Editing Patrick Ducruet
• Sound Celine Bernard
• Cast
• Contacts

  Teleview International

  ziadc@teleview-int.tv

About the Film

The film starts with a Kirikou-like shot: Dilili is in an African village, doing African chores, speaking a strange guttural language. All of a sudden there is a kind of “zoom out” and the image expands to include well-dressed people watching and commenting the scene, as if they were at the zoo. The Eiffel Tower is on the background. It is not Africa; it is actually Paris, in the years at the end of the 19th century. It’s the fabulous “Belle Epoque”, when it was possible to meet the most important intellectuals of the century in the city: Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Proust, Emma Calvé, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Sarah Bernhardt, Louise Michel. Thanks to Orel, her delivery-boy friend, Dilili will meet all of them and will get their help in unveiling the mystery that surrounds a secret society called the ‘Master Men’, which is apparently kidnapping young girls all around Paris.

This is the delightful tale of little Dilili, who, thanks to the kindness of a countess, turns from a stowaway on a ship from New Caledonia into a perfectly good-mannered little French demoiselle. It is an ode to culture against all forms of obscurantism and an ageless condemnation of all racial prejudices. Moreover, Ocelot uses the ‘Master Men’ as a symbol of the women’s oppressors, always very active when women try to fight for the recognition of their rights.

For the film, Ocelot employs his characteristic minimalist style, but this time the story unfolds over photos of the most iconic Parisian monuments, which the director took himself. A gorgeous, sophisticated, colorful backdrop for a story that will delight audiences of all ages.

Teresa Cavina