the animated film “Belle” dissected by its Japanese director

Released December 29, Beautiful, the latest creation by Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu, transposes the tale of The beauty and the Beast these days, where technology is everywhere. Suzu is a very shy young high school student who has been withdrawn since the death of her mother. Since this drama, the young girl has stopped singing, until the day she discovers the virtual world U. A universe that allows everyone to obtain a digital alter ego, while maintaining their anonymity. In this new world, Suzu becomes Belle, a pink-haired songstress adored by millions. One day, during one of his virtual concerts, the Beast, a violent and mysterious creature appears, chased by the “protectors” of U. Belle, intrigued, will endeavor to come to his aid and to unravel his secret.

This very modern adaptation of the tale of The beauty and the Beast, the Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda, whom we met in Paris on the sidelines of the promotion of his film, had dreamed of it for several years. “For thirty years I wanted to make my own version and I love that of Jean Cocteau and Disney. One day, I had the idea to transpose this story in the context of the internet, because I really like the two sides of the Beast in the original version.“, both beautiful and monstrous.”Today we live with two facets, real life and digital life“, explains the director.

Through Beautiful, Mamoru Hosoda, discusses the contrasts of digital technology and the use of social networks. In U’s world, popularity is fleeting, users are worshiped before falling back into anonymity or worse, cyberstalking. But thanks to this network, the young girl also opens up to the world, creates strong friendships and discovers who she really is. “The most important is the positive side of this technology, says the director of Beautiful. Whenever there is a new technology that appears, we tend to be afraid. But what’s the point of adults constantly complaining about this young, connected generation? We must find in this reality, new notions of values, of self-construction. The only desire I have is to encourage young people to learn to live in this world “, adds Mamoru Hosoda.

Thanks to U, the heroine will grow up from this adventure. Without divulging the plot, she will eventually resolve the relationship problems she had with her father and understand the sacrifice of her mother …

Each of the films directed by Mamoru Hosoda, is directly inspired by his personal life. For Wolf Children, Ame and Yuki, it was his mother’s death that made him wonder about the way she had raised him alone. Miraï, my little sister is inspired by the birth of her two children. For Beautiful, “this is really my family story, my five year old daughter behaves like a real princess at home (laughs), but as soon as she goes to school, she totally changes her personality, she is very shy and is not sociable. Observing her, I found that she really had a double face and that inspired me a lot to create the character of Suzu “, says the director.

For the first time, the director surrounded himself with talents from around the world in the conception of Beautiful. Jin Kim, Korean animator who designed many characters in the universe Disney (Rapunzel, Frozen) and the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon (The wolf people) participated in the adventure. This collaboration was facilitated by the pandemic which allowed more exchanges between the creators. “I wanted to do Beautiful something global, universal like the world of U, so the production of the film had to reflect this universe“, explains Mamoru Hosoda.

The bet has been taken up, the images are magical, the characters in U are very diverse, as are the sets. Futuristic cities as far as the eye can see rub shoulders with flying castles, flower storms and flying whales appear above the crowds: to the delight of the eyes.

The director also turned to France to complete his team of talents and find the French voice of Belle. A difficult choice given the musical dimension of the film. In its original version, the artist lends his voice to the heroine. In the French version, singer Louane (Give me your heart, we were beautiful) embodies both Suzu and Belle. “It’s very complicated to find a person who can sing and interpret this role. Louane is one of the very few people who does both. She knew how to keep the original intention by putting her own style. In his personal life, singing was something very important, it almost founded his life. Louane’s life and Belle’s are synchronized, that’s surely why, which is so convincing in the film“says Mamoru Hosoda.

“Belle”, by Mamoru Hosoda, in theaters since December 29.