The Triplets of Belleville (French: Les Triplettes de Belleville) is a 2003 animatedadventurecomedy-drama film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet.[4] It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The film is Chomet's first feature film and was an international co-production among companies in France, Belgium, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The film features the voices of Lina Boudreault, Mari-Lou Gauthier, Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin, and Monica Viegas. There is little dialogue; much of the narrative is conveyed through song and pantomime. It tells the story of Madame Souza, an elderly woman who goes on a quest to rescue her grandson Champion, a Tour de France cyclist, who has been kidnapped by the French mafia for gambling purposes and taken to the city of Belleville (an amalgamation of Paris, New York City, Montreal and Quebec City[5]). She is accompanied by Champion's loyal and obese hound, Bruno, and joined by the Triplets of Belleville, music hall singers from the 1930s, whom she meets in the city.
In France, Madame Souza is raising her grandson Champion, a melancholy orphan. They watch an old variety show on television featuring a trio of singers, the Triplets of Belleville (Rose, Blanche, and Violette). When the program is interrupted, Souza asks Champion if the "film" is finished. The listless Champion does not reply and instead changes the channel to a piano concert. Souza, seeing Champion's interest in the music, pulls out an old piano and tries to amuse him, but Champion remains indifferent. She deduces that Champion is lonely and buys him a dog, Bruno. Neither Bruno nor an electric train set succeed in lifting Champion's spirits, and the dog has no interests apart from eating, sleeping, and barking at trains.
While tidying Champion's room, Souza discovers a book filled with photos of cyclists. She buys Champion a tricycle, and he becomes an obsessive cyclist. Some years later he is competing in the Tour de France, when he is kidnapped by a pair of mobsters in a Citroën van. They take him and two other contestants across the Atlantic, Souza pursuing them on a pedalo.
Arriving in the United States penniless and hungry, Souza and the obese Bruno are adopted by the Triplets of Belleville, now elderly, and taken to their seedy apartment. When dinner is finally served, it consists of frog soup and frog stew, with tadpoles for dessert, collected by Violette using "expanding bait". Souza joins their band, playing bicycle spokes like a dulcimer, to their refrigerator-shelf harp, newspaper percussion and vacuum-cleaner bagpipe. During the show, Souza spots the kidnappers. With the help of the Triplets, Souza rescues the cyclists, who had been forced to pedal-power a gambling machine, and escape on the pedaling frame, pursued by the mobsters in Citroën sedans.
In a flashforward, an older Champion watches the TV again showing their adventure when they are leaving the city and remembers Souza asking once more if the film is finished. Champion turns to the empty bench next to him and says "It's over, Grandma".
In a humorous post-credits scene, the boatman who rented Souza the pedalo is seen patiently waiting for his vessel to return.
Cast
Jean-Claude Donda as Le Géneral de Gaulle / Les commentateurs Sportifs / Le clochard / les Réclames (voice)
Dirk Denoyelle as Les commentateurs Sportifs / Le clochard (Dutch version) (voice)
Noël Baye as 'Champion' adulte (English version) (voice)
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 94% of 150 surveyed critics gave it a positive review, and the average rating was 8.2/10; the consensus reads: "Richly detailed and loaded with surreal touches, The Triplets of Belleville is an odd, delightful charmer."[8]Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score, rated it 91/100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[9]
