The Triplets of Belleville · reception & legacy

How The Triplets of Belleville has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

An arthouse sensation from its Cannes 2003 debut, it became the rare foreign hand-drawn oddity to crash the Oscars with two nominations — and it's only grown in stature since, now routinely cited as proof that animation was never just for kids.

What's debated

Fans still argue over its gleefully grotesque caricatures — is the satire of American excess (and some of its retro imagery) sharp cartooning or a step too far?

Its footprint

The earworm 'Belleville Rendez-vous' escaped the film entirely — an Oscar-nominated song from a nearly wordless cartoon — and Madame Souza, Bruno the dog, and those spindly cyclists remain instantly recognizable shorthand for a whole strain of European animation.

Where it stands

A fixture of the adult-animation canon and a Letterboxd darling — the 'you must see this' gateway drug to animation beyond Disney and Pixar.

Named by the director

Influences Sylvain Chomet has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• Jacques Tati — Chomet has repeatedly cited Tati's near-wordless visual comedy as the film's guiding influence — he even puts a clip of Tati's Jour de fête on a TV screen in the movie, and later adapted Tati's unproduced script as The Illusionist.