Gwen, le Livre de Sable |
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France • 1985 • 67m •
  • Directed by: Jean-François Laguionie. • Starring: Michel Robin, Lorella Di Cicco, Armand Babel, Raymond Jourdan, Saïd Amadis, Bertrand Bautheac, Jacques Bouvier, Jacques Ruisseau. • Music by: Pierre Alrand.   Gwen is a young girl adopted by a nomad tribe in a desert post-apocalyptic world. When Gwen's friend is kidnapped, she and an old woman called Roseline embark on a trip to bring him back.
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Review:
Gwen, the Book of the Sand, is a surreal journey in a would that appears created on the detritus of our own. In this world, the people eek out a living in a vast desert that they share with some birds and what appears to be the trash we'd find in any landfill -- old spectacles, rusty bikes, etc. Gwen, a newcomer to the tribe, forms a bond with a strange boy, who is soon taken by the mysterious entity that prowls the desert at night. Gwen journeys with the boy's grandmother into the unknown to find him.
The visuals are simple, yet serenely beautiful. The world is made strange by the juxtaposition of the desert nomadic motif to the common everyday items that, despite their normality, seem to physically dwarf the characters. Eventually, the movie begins delving into the question of religion and understanding the purpose and desire of "God." The pacing is necessarily slow to allow the journey. If you are the sort of person who likes clearly defined plots, this is not the movie for you, in that the world Laguioneie has created becomes confusing and undefined. However, fans of surreal animation will find this unique landscape something to think about.
Review by centinel822 from the Internet Movie Database.
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