vulture picture palace

‘Ratatouille’ Animator Delivers Parisian Stick Figures in Love

Inspired by the striking Edith Piaf–Theo Sarapo duet of the film’s title, today’s Vulture Picture Palace short is Louis Clichy’s freewheeling A quoi ça sert l’amour. Produced when Clichy was with Cube Creative, a Paris-based animation studio, A quoi ça sert l’amour gives us a young couple going through the pitfalls and wonders of love – meet up, break up, make up, anger, hurt, and joy – all in the space of two and a half marvelously propulsive minutes. The short caught the attention of Pixar, who hired Clichy as a 3-D animator; his first job at the studio was working on the Paris-set Ratatouille, opening today.

“It is very rare to hear Edith Piaf in a duet,” Clichy told us, drawing attention to how the song is built, with its thesis-antithesis verses about whether there’s a point to love: The man claims it’s of no use and that it seems to bring only misery; the woman argues that it seizes you, brings you joy even when it brings you sadness; they go back and forth, with “the simple melody repeated at a higher tonality each time, [creating] a strong crescendo.” The result: a romantic epic, starring stick figures. —Bilge Ebiri

‘Ratatouille’ Animator Delivers Parisian Stick Figures in Love