Is a magnificent life actually magnificent if you don’t really care? Or if you’re not really made to care?

I know I’m showing my ignorance by admitting that I had never heard of Marcel Pagnol, a French playwright and film director from the first half of the 1900’s. (However, I think that puts me square in the 99.8% of Americans.) This animated movie certainly touched on major parts of his life, but it zipped through most of his work. It felt like watching a Wikipedia rundown.

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Sylvain Chomet directed this film, and like his Oscar-nominated movie, “The Triplets of Belleville,” he showcases a very unique hand-drawn animated style. It’s very warm and expressive, and its “old-fashioned” manner fits the subject well.

However, the film moves quickly…and not necessarily in a good way. It jams in people and places and facts of his life and memories of his past and just takes off. It was difficult to find peetimes, because as I was taking notes as to what was happening in one scene, it would quickly move on to something else with totally different characters. By the time I finished with the first scene and started with the second, it moved on again! It was hard to make a connection with it, as it zoomed from one thing to another. My mind basically disconnected after a while.

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Bottom line: I enjoyed the animation style, but I think I would like to have learned more about his work and ultimately what made him so “magnificent.”

Grade: C

About The Peetimes: Read a synopsis of first 3 minutes of this movie.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of A Magnificent Life.

Plot
In 1955, 60-year-old Marcel Pagnol is a well-known and acclaimed playwright and filmmaker. When the editor-in-chief of ELLE magazine commissions a weekly column about Pagnol’s childhood, he sees this as a great opportunity to go back to his artistic roots: writing. Realizing his memory is failing him and deeply affected by the disappointing results of his last two plays, Pagnol starts doubting his ability to pursue his work. That is until Little Marcel – the young boy he used to be – appears to him as if by magic. Together, they will explore Marcel Pagnol’s incredible life and bring back to life his most cherished encounters and memories…