• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Film
  • DVD
  • Editorial
  • About ScreenFish

ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • OtherFish
  • Podcast
  • Give

Jim Broadbent

Charlotte: A Colourful Story in a Black and White World

April 21, 2022 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Even when the world is filled with darkness, some stories still shine brightly.

Set during the Nazi-occupation of Germany in World War II, Charlotte tells the unbelievable true story of Charlotte Salomon (Keira Knightley), a young Jewish woman who dreams of becoming an artist. When she’s accepted into a German art scool, Salomon is thrilled at the opportunity to learn the craft. However, the world around her is changing quickly and becoming increasingly dangerous for her. In the face of anti-Semitic violence, Salomon flees Germany for the south of France for freedom. As she finds love, her passion for her art is renewed. Though her peace is interrupted once again, this time by family tragedy that unveils disturbing secrets of her past.

Co-directed by Tahir Rana and Eric Tarin, Charlotte is a stunning piece that highlights one woman’s journey in the face of oppression and the courage that she displays through her art. As a Jewish woman living in Germany during the Second World War, Charlotte Salomon’s story is one forged through suffering and sacrifice. Living in a world which demands ‘perfection’, Salomon’s passionate response to life and art broke barriers and has become an inspiration to many. As she with Nazi oppression from the outside and a history of mental health issues from within, Salomon’s journey is a harrowing and mature tale that remains gripping from start to finish.

Although the film features strong performances by Knightley, Marion Cotillard and Jim Broadbent, Charlotte’s greatest strength is actually its stunning animation. Painting the characters onscreen like a brush on a canvas, Charlotte’s animation style is influenced heavily by Salomon’s work. Through the film’s visuals, Rana and Tarin have done their best to interpret the world through her eyes. (In fact, Rana has even stated that they decided not to use colour black due to the fact that Salomon never used it in her art.) 

Leaning heavily towards artistic interpretation, Salomon’s way of viewing life may have been abstract but her insistence to choose love in the face of the darkest of circumstances sparkles within her work. With bleeding but vibrant colours, strong brush strokes and obscure images, there’s a passion within Salomon’s work that reflects her experiences. Although her German art school demanded symmetry and clear lines, Salomon’s work refuses to adhere to such ideals. Instead, fueled by love and suffering, Salomon allowed her creativity to flow at the expense of precision. In doing so, she found a way to use her art as a creative outlet to deal with the stresses and pain of the world around her. Using art as a coping mechanism, Salomon was able to find a way to deal with her own mental health issues in the midst of incredibly stressful situations. (“Only by doing something mad can I hope to stay sane,” she points out.) 

With this in mind, Salomon’s work is also expansive in its scope. Having painted over 1000 portraits of her life, her work offers an in-dept look inside the mind of a woman living in troubled times. Interestingly though, her work is far less concerned with the facts about her life and instead focuses on expressing her feelings. In one of the film’s more fascinating comments, Salomon points out that some of her paintings are moments from her life and some “may not have happened”. For Salomon, the details of her life are less important than the impressions left upon her. Whereas this may seem counterintuitive in a world of data collection, Salomon understood that a true portrait of her life lay beyond the names and dates

She believed that, to know her, you needed to feel her story.

As such, there’s a certain beauty to Salomon’s story that most narrative dramas are unable to display. By way of its animated style, Rana and Tarin create a certain level of distance between reality and fantasy yet never lose the film’s authenticity either. We know that this is a true story, complete with facts, dates and important historical moments. However, like Salomon’s interpretation of the world, the animated style gives us the chance to feel the vitality of the moment without focusing on the details.

And, somehow, that makes it feel more real.

Stunningly crafted and executed, Charlotte is a testament to one woman’s determination to see the world in full colour when the rest of the world demanded black and white. Coming at a time when the world around her tried to break her soul, Salomon’s passion for life inspired her to create art of such vibrancy that it seemed to kick against the forces of evil themselves. 

To see our interview with co-director Tahir Rana, click here.

To see our interview with producer Julia Rosenburg, click here.

Charlotte is available in theatres on Friday, April 22nd, 2022.

Filed Under: Featured, Film, Reviews Tagged With: Charlotte, Charlotte Salomon, Eric Tarin, Jim Broadbent, Keira Knightley, Marion Cotillard, Tahir Rana

Ethel & Ernest – Extraordinary Ordinariness

December 15, 2017 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“There was nothing extraordinary about my Mum and Dad. Nothing dramatic. . .. But they were my parents and I wanted to remember them by doing a picture book.”

British author and illustrator Raymond Briggs told his parent’s very ordinary story in a graphic novel, Ethel & Ernest, which has now been made into an animated film. The film is as simple and unassuming as the two people at its heart. And that is where the emotional power of the film comes from—just seeing the story of people who lived their lives, as nearly all of us do, without fanfare, but still find happiness and love.

Ernest (Jim Broadbent) is a milkman who is both affable and outgoing. Ethel (Brenda Blethyn) was serving as a maid when she met Ernest, and having learned upper-class manners never likes to think of the family as working class. They have very different outlooks. Ernest, a socialist, favors the Labour Party; Ethel supports the Tories. They needle each other about this through the years. Ernest is always up-to-date on world affairs; Ethel usually looks no further than the family needs.

Although the Briggses are very typical, the times they lived in were certainly dramatic. They have a chance meeting in 1928, which leads to courtship, marriage, family. They live through the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war social shift and spreading affluence. They died within months of each other in 1971. The film leads us through this history, but it is always focused on the love and relationship that gave meaning to their lives. Even when they have a child, the real focus of the film is the relationship of Ernest and Ethel. (After all, it is that child who created the story. He is intent on celebrating these two loving people and has managed to keep himself a minor character in their story.)

When I got the promotion about this film, I thought it sounded like an animated “Masterpiece Theatre”. And it would be a good fit for that PBS series. But unlike the cultural voyeurism of Downton Abbey, Ethel & Ernest is very much the story of everyday people. It is the story of the people who are around us. It is the story of us. Raymond Briggs did not tell their story because they led extraordinary or dramatic lives, but because of the love they shared with each other and with him. That may seem ordinary, but in reality it is the most extraordinary kind of life.

Photos courtesy Ethel & Ernest Productions

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: animated, based on graphic novel, biography, Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Raymond Briggs, Sir Paul McCarney, UK, World War II

Primary Sidebar

THE SF NEWS

Get a special look, just for you.

sf podcast

Hot Off the Press

  • Squeal: Men are Pigs
  • The Legend of Molly Brown – One woman’s struggle
  • Sharp Stick: Sex and Sensibility
  • Syndrome K – Life Saving Disease
  • Emily the Criminal: Dancing with our Dark Side
Find tickets and showtimes on Fandango.

where faith and film are intertwined

film and television carry stories which remind us of the stories God has woven since the beginning of time. come with us on a journey to see where faith and film are intertwined.

Footer

ScreenFish Articles

Squeal: Men are Pigs

The Legend of Molly Brown – One woman’s struggle

  • About ScreenFish
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 · ScreenFish.net · Built by Aaron Lee

 

Loading Comments...