REST IN PEACE
2021 · 6m · France
Directed by Aparna Hegde, Deborah Balboa, Kai-Hsun Chan, Karien Benz, Yuk Yan Tsoi
Genres: animation, dark comedy, satire
Tones: darkly comic, surreal, whimsical
A bold, darkly whimsical political satire told from the politician's point of view: a light storybook atmosphere collides with the absurd and cruel machinery of power, rendered in a German Expressionist-inspired visual style.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
The premise wants to be subversive—politician as protagonist, storybook meets brutality—but the execution feels like it's trying too hard to make the collision matter; the German Expressionist affectation sits on top of the satire rather than fueling it.
A formally assured piece that understands its visual lineage (Expressionism as political language) and deploys it with real intelligence; the five-director collaboration somehow coheres into a coherent argument about power's aesthetic dimension.
The decision to house dark political machinery in a storybook visual grammar—that tonal register shift—is what carries the whole piece; it's a small formal choice that opens up the entire satire's emotional register.
Reviews
Inspired by German Expressionist films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the latest grad film from the GOBELINS class of 2021 is a bold yet nuanced critique of "politicians and their absurd and cruel way of running countries." We decided to show the story from the perspective of the politician to play with audience expectations and we created a light whimsical atmosphere that contrasts with the dark reveal of the story.