Tales of the Night (film)

Tales of the Night (French: Les Contes de la nuit) is a 2011 French computer silhouette animation feature film directed by Michel Ocelot.[6] It is a compilation movie for movie theaters of five episodes of Dragons et princesses in stereoscopic 3D and one additional, until then unseen story, "The Girl-Doe and the Architect's Son" ("La Fille-biche et le fils de l'architecte"), for a total of six. It premièred in competition for the Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2011[3] before its general release in France by StudioCanal on July 20.[4]

Tales of the Night
French pre-release promotional poster
Directed byMichel Ocelot
Produced byChristophe Rossignon
Philip Boëffard
Written byMichel Ocelot
Music byChristian Maire
Edited byPatrick Ducruet[1]
Production
company
Nord-Ouest Films
Studio O
StudioCanal
Distributed byStudioCanal[2]
Release date
  • February 13, 2011 (2011-02-13) (Berlin)
  • July 20, 2011 (2011-07-20) (France)
[3][4]
Running time
84 minutes
CountryFrance[3]
LanguageFrench
Box office$1.8 million[5]

It has been licensed for the United States by GKIDS and for the United Kingdom by Soda Pictures, both for a general release in 2012,[7][8] with its UK release date having now been announced as Friday, 6 April 2012.[9] In Japan, it is the fourth feature directed by Ocelot in the Ghibli Museum Library, and was shown at the 2012 Tokyo International Anime Fair,[10] and released in June 2012.[11]

Plot

A girl, a boy and an old cinema technician tell stories every night in a small theater. Before each story, the boy and the girl decide, in accordance with the old technician, they will play the characters in the story they will interpret, they also choose a time and a country as well as costumes through documentation the technician brings them, and make clothing and accessories with a computer-controlled machine. They then perform the story on stage.

The Werewolf

The first story takes place in Medieval Europe. The story of two sisters who are in love with the same prince. The prince is betrothed to the older one, much to the sadness of the younger one who has loved him all her life. However, the prince reveals to his betrothed that he transforms into a werewolf during the Full moon. She is not pleased, and tricks him into transforming in front of her, then steals the gold necklace that will make him turn back into a human. She throws the necklace in the well and tells the people that the prince was eaten by the wolf of the woods. The younger sister figures out what her sister has done, and exposes her cruel actions.

Tijean and Belle-Sans-Connaitre

The second story takes place in the West Indies. While exploring a cave down so far beneath the ground, Tijean finds himself in the land of the dead. The shadow of an old man tells him how to defeat three monsters, a giant bee, a mongoose and a giant iguana giant, which lead him to the king's court, whose daughter is to be married. Tijean overcomes the three monsters in his way, without killing them, and finally comes before the king. However, because he did not kill the monsters, he is deemed unworthy to marry the princess and is sentenced to the chopper. Fortunately he is saved by the three animals.

The Chosen One and The City Of Gold

The third story is set in Aztec times. The inhabitants of a city made of gold worship a being called the Benefactor who gives them gold in exchange for a human sacrifice of the prettiest women in the land. One day a stranger arrives at the city and after discovering this sinister act he resolves to break this cycle of killing. The man is convinced there is a way to stop the Benefactor, however a prophecy says the city will collapse when the Benefactor falls.

The Boy Tam-Tam

The fourth story is set in a village in West Africa. A young boy who enjoys playing the tam-tam drums every day is chased away by the villagers who believe he is noisy and useless. The boy dreams of finding a magic drum, which will allow him to play well, and force anyone who listens to dance. One day he saves the life of an old man who turns out to be the keeper of the magic drum. The old man agrees to let the boy play on the precious instrument, but he can not activate its powers until after a long and difficult training. However the boy is found useful when he able to play the drum to save his village from invaders.

The Boy Who Never Lied

The fifth story takes place in Tibet. The boy who never lies is a servant of the king and good friends with the king's talking horse, Mélongi. One day the king receives a visit from the king of the neighbouring kingdom who claims to have a singing mare named Sumaki. They both make a bet that the boy who rides the nation's talking horse cannot be made to lie. The rival king hatches a plan and enlists his daughter to seduce the boy who never lies and make him lie. For this she fakes a deadly disease and claims that it can heal by eating the heart of Mélongi.

The Doe-Girl and the Architect's Son

The sixth and final story set once again in Medieval Europe. Maud and Thibaut are very much in love with each other. Thibaut is the son of famous architect and apprentice to his father's best friend. Maud is servant to a powerful but tyrannical wizard. The wizard sets off to marry Maud but when she refuses, he shuts her up in a tower. However Thibaut is determined to save her which causes the wizard to turn Maud into a beast. Thibaut and his master must then find a way to restore her human form.

Cast
gollark: I do somewhat blame drivers for being stupid with it, but realistically they should have predicted that if you call something "autopilot" and it does *some* of the driving work **people will get complacent**.
gollark: yeß.
gollark: If it is not fully self driving, it should not be called "autopilot".
gollark: To be fair, even if it was way better than humans people would inevitably complain.
gollark: Well, that's wrong.

References
  1. "Les Contes de la nuit" (PDF) (Press release). StudioCanal. April 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  2. "Tales of the Night". Nord-Ouest Films. 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  3. "Les Contes de la nuit film file" (Press release). Berlin International Film Festival. February 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  4. "Les Contes de la nuit 3D" (in French). StudioCanal. 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
  5. "Tales of the Night (2012) - International Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
  6. Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 120. ISBN 978-1908215017.
  7. "Tales of the Night". GKIDS. 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011. Now booking festivals. Release to select theaters in 2012.
  8. "Exclusive ticket giveaway for BFI London Film Festival Family Gala Screening of Tales of the Night…". Film Club. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011. Courtesy of Soda Pictures, […] Tales of the Night will be on general release in 2012.
  9. Heron, Ambrose (2012-01-05). "UK Cinema Releases: 2012". FILMdetail. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  10. Thomas, Daniel (2 February 2012). "Ghibli reveals plans for Tokyo Anime Fair". Ghibli Blog. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  11. "International distributors and buyers". Tales of the Night. uniFrance. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
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