Annecy 2018 – "Insect" by Jan Scankmajer: the surrealism of stop-motion

Annecy offered us the exceptional screening of Insect. A Slovak film by Jan Scankmajer, the story tells the story of the slow transformation of theatre actors into insects. A totally absurd film that uses stop-motion, Insect is a surreal and exciting work.

The making-of inside the film itself

Jan Scankmajer approaches his film with great imagination. He compares literature and cinema, and argues, since writers have their preface, so should filmmakers. Thus Insect begins with Jan Scankmajer who explains to us, with humor, the genesis of his film. He asserts with self-mockery that his film means nothing, and that his characters are devoid of psychology, simple puppets in the service of a surreal story. Interspersed with scenes from the film, Jan Scankmajer will continue this behind the scenes. He will present his manufacturing secrets. Here a scene that presents the direction of the actors, there another that shows the manufacture of stop-motion special effects and finally here the use of insects and various subterfuges. The scenes of the film and the asides, respond to each other in a joyful ballet. In addition to attending this cinematic UFO the viewer has an idea of its design. The filmmaker uses models, accessories of all kinds, and exciting production techniques. Grandiose.

Stop-motion: the most beautiful invention

Stop-motion consists in giving the illusion of seeing objects come to life. The technique is there as that of cartoons. Between each shot, being able to record a photograph on a cinematographic film, the object is moved, which gives the effect of movement. It is James Stuart Blackton who imagines it in 1897 but it is obviously the great Ray Harryhausen the master in the field. Jan Scankmajer is also very famous in the use of stop-motion. We remember his superb rereading of Alice in Wonderland in 1988 in which he confronted the little girl with demonic and fairytale stop-motion appearances. Today Wes Anderson is still very fond of stop-motion as well as the studios Aardman Animations especially behind Wallace and Gromit.

In Insect it's the same. Jan Scankmajer uses the same methods. The animations are beautiful and detailed within the film itself. With great style, Jan Scankmajer gently transforms his characters into insects. He also takes up this trademark which is to make close-ups on the mouths of his characters. It worked wonderfully in Alice and works perfectly here again too. As close as possible to the character, Jan Scankmajer seeks to bring a subsequent malaise of these close-ups. A human mouth is not very tasty. It was Sergio Leone who used this technique in Once Upon a Time the Revolution. In short, Insect is a superb UFO, which oscillates between magical and nightmarish images, a waking dream.

Insect is an absurd work in a phantasmagorical and surrealist universe. Stop-motion is still a very attractive process that offers something else to see.