animation, Bernie Clifford, Charlotte Belsey, Dominique Pinon, Eric Bana, film festivals, Jacki Weaver, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Magda Szubanski, Mason Litsos, Memoir of a Snail, movies, Paul Capsis, reviews, Sarah Snook, Telluride Film Festival, Tony Armstrong
January 3, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Adam Elliot
Culture Representation: Taking place in Australia, from the 1970s to the 1990s, the animated film “Memoir of a Snail” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An eccentric girl, who collects snails, become separated from her twin brother after their widower father dies, and the twins experience various difficulties during their childhood and adult years.
Culture Audience: “Memoir of a Snail” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s voice actors and unconventional animation that is geared more to adults than children.
Quirky and inventive, “Memoir of a Snail” is like no other animated film. The movie is not as lighthearted and family-friendly as it first appears to be, but there are moments of hope in this occasionally rambling story of a misfit who collects snails. This is a movie that is best enjoyed by people who consider themselves to be open-minded and can enjoy animation that doesn’t have a formulaic plot.
Written and directed by Adam Elliot, “Memoir of a Snail” had its world premiere at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. The movie, which takes place in Australia from the 1970s to the 1990s, has stop-motion animation that looks a lot like it was influenced by animated films by director Tim Burton. However, “Memoir of a Snail” is more offbeat than most of Burton’s films.
“Memoir of a Snail” begins in the 1970s in Melbourne, where twin siblings Grace Pudel (voiced by Charlotte Belsey) and Gilbert Pudel (voiced by Mason Litsos) are being raised by their widower father Percy Pudel (voiced by Dominique Pinon), a native of France who used to be a juggler in Paris. Grace is the narrator of this movie, which as a flashback when Grace is an adult. Sarah Snook voices the role of adult Grace.
Annie Pudel, the mother of Gilbert and Grace, died during childbirth in 1972, when she was 22 years old. Annie, who was originally from Australia, met Percy when she was visiting in Paris and he was a street busker. After Percy and Annie fell in love, Percy moved to Australia to be with Annie.
As a widower, Percy is addicted to alcohol and uses a wheelchair because he has paraplegia. “Knitting and jelly beans were his other addictions,” Grace says in the narration. From an early age, Grace developed a fascination with squirrels and became somewhat obsessed with collecting snails and snail memorabilia.
Grace and Gilbert adore each other and are very close. n hindsight narration, Grace describes Gilbert as this way when they were growing up together: “He was like Holden Caulfield, James Dean and Charlie Brown rolled all into one.” Gilbert was a pessimistic worrier who was often bullied at school, but he wasn’t afraid to fight back.
Grace also says that Gilbert loved animals so much, he became a vegetarian. She adds, “But the thing that made Gilbert really unique was his love of fire. He’d spend hours playing with fire.” Gilbert’s dream was to become a street performer in Paris, just like his father Percy was. “Despite our hardships, there was plenty of joy,” Grace says of her childhood being raised by Percy.
However, as shown in the flashback scenes, that joy came to crashing halt when Percy dies. Grace and Gilbert are separated in the foster care system and are sent to live on opposite sides of Australia. Grace is placed with a married couple who are accountants in urban Canberra (on the east coast), while Gilbert is placed with a married couple who live on a rural farm near Perth (on the west coast). The twins don’t see each other for several years, but they keep in touch by writing letters to each other.
Grace and Gilbert also grow up in opposite foster homes, when it come to the people who are raising them. Grace’s foster parents are Ian (voiced by Paul Capsis) and Narelle (also voiced by Capsis), who are friendly but often neglectful because they are swingers who are frequently absent from their home. By contrast, Gilbert’s foster parents Owen (voiced by Bernie Clifford) and Ruth (voiced by Magda Szubanski) are religious conservatives who are very abusive to Gilbert.
Not much more can be described about “Memoir of a Snail” without giving away too much of the plot. However, it’s enough to say that adult Grace and adult Gilbert (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) have ups and downs in their lives. As an adult, Grace becomes addicted to “buying, hoarding and stealing.”
Grace also befriends an eccentric older woman named Pinky (voiced by Jacki Weaver), who is legally blind and becomes a maternal figure to Grace. Grace also has two love interests: one named Ken (voiced by Tony Armstrong) and one named Bill Clarke (voiced by Nick Cave), with both romances being very different from each other. Gilbert also has a romance that takes a heartbreaking turn. A magistrate named James (voiced by Eric Bana) as a small but pivotal role in the film.
“Memoir of a Snail” is not going to be to everyone’s liking. There’s a lot of dry and dark comedy in the movie that is handled quite capably by the voice actors, who give memorable performances. The parts of the story that are depressing might catch some viewers off guard and be a turnoff for the rest of the movie. The movie’s visuals are striking, and the story clips along at a good pace, although some of the narrative tends to wander. Viewers with patience will be rewarded with an ending that makes “Memoir of a Snail” a uniquely poignant movie experience.
IFC Films released “Memoir of a Snail” in select U.S. cinemas on October 25, 2024. The movie was released on digital and VOD on November 26, 2024. AMC+ will premiere the movie on January 17, 2025.