What happens when a painting is left unfinished?

Set inside the world of a painting, this animated film follows three groups of painted figures: the Toupins, characters rendered in sophisticated colours; the Parfinis, semi-painted figures; and the Reufs, bare sketches. Their social privilege is dictated by the extent of their completeness in the painting. Tension grows when the Toupins begin to spread a rumour: the painter will never come back. The gruelling tension doesn't stop Ramo, a Toupin, from declaring his love for Claire, a Reuf. One day, when Claire flees from the Toupins’ persecution and goes missing, Ramo and his friend take the plunge of leaving their canvas to look for the painter. After landing at the dispiriting studio of an artist, the duo encounters characters on other canvases, where empowering perspectives on destiny and salvation gradually come to light.

Jean-François Laguionie (b. 1939, France) is a writer, film director, and producer in animation. Laguionie studied painting and gradually developed an interest in theatre and set design. In the 1960s, he met French animation legend Paul Grimault, who encouraged him to experiment with animated cinema. Employing the rudimentary paper cutout technique, Laguionie started making animated shorts, including The Lady and the Cellist (1965) and the Palme d’Or and César Award–winning Rowing Across the Atlantic (1978). The animator’s enthusiasm for storytelling, particularly narratives of human difference, prevails in his animated features, including A Monkey’s Tale (1999) and The Painting (2011).