Paumo d'amour
2023 · 6m · France
Directed by Ian Halley, Laurène Vaubourdolle, Jade Van De Veire, Luka Croisez, Nathan Hermouet
Instead of paying his wife any attention, Dédé sends all his love to his vegetable garden. But what should he do when his delicious tomatoes inexplicably disappear?
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A man loves his tomatoes more than his wife—fine, we've seen domestic ennui played for laughs before. But the mystery of the vanishing vegetables never quite earns its premise's weirder promises, and the film seems content to stay in comfortable absurdist territory rather than push into genuine "wait, WHAT?" territory.
The five-director collective demonstrates a sharp understanding of whimsical animation grammar and pacing, with clean staging and a formally satisfying structure that recalls European children's animation traditions—though the emotional stakes feel somewhat slight for the formal rigor on display.
The decision to make the garden itself the emotional anchor rather than the marriage creates an unexpected tonal trick: by filming Dédé's vegetable obsession with genuine tenderness and specificity, the animators transform what could've been throwaway comedy into something that actually lands when his tomatoes vanish.