THE RED TURTLE
Studio Ghibli’s latest will leave you speechless.
When Studio Ghibli went on a “brief pause” in August 2014, the animation maestros didn’t cease operations; work continued on The Red Turtle – Ghibli’s first ever international co-production. Directed by Dutch-British animator Michael Dudok de Wit, it’s a film that shares several of Ghibli’s most important sensibilities: stunning animation, a meditative mood and powerfully poignant storytelling. It’s also a film told entirely without words.
“In the beginning, I had dialogue,” Dudok de Wit tells Teasers on a sun-kissed rooftop shortly after the film’s Cannes premiere. “During pre-production Studio Ghibli said, ‘We think the film would be stronger if you took the last sentences out.’ Suddenly, I felt a weight fall off my shoulders. I really liked the idea of dropping all the dialogue. I knew it would be interesting to keep everything simple.”
The film opens as mysteriously as it unfolds, with an unnamed man washing up on a tropical island after a shipwreck. He attempts escape on a raft, but his vessel is repeatedly destroyed by the titular turtle. With its mysteries left to interpretation, The Red
Turtle won’t satisfy anyone looking for a Swiss Family Robinson- style adventure. “That’s the most awful film,” Dudok de Wit laughs. “That’s exactly what I didn’t want to do. Some people think being alone on a tropical island is quite nice. He suffers from loneliness. It drives him mad. But I also really enjoyed creating scenes where there’s tenderness between people.”
Eschewing the bombast of 3D animations and the detail of Ghibli’s own 2D ’toons, the film is rendered in a striking, hand-drawn ligne-claire art style, with a bold but limited colour palette. “I wanted to make a film unlike a Californian film where you have all the colours at the same time, and stick with a few basic colours.”
The director worked closely with Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki and
Princess Kaguya helmer Isao Takahata, which required a new way of thinking. “Their attitude was: ‘The director has the final say,’” Dudok de Wit explains. “But I told them, ‘I need your help – you have experience I don’t have.’ They were surprised at first. Then they said, ‘OK.’ It was based on trust.” ETA | 26 May The Red Turt le opens next month.