Tale of Tales
1979 · 29m · Soviet Union
Directed by Yuri Norstein
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
A dreamlike animated meditation on memory, childhood, war, and loss, centered around a little grey wolf who wanders through fragmented vignettes of Soviet life — from a mother's lullaby to wartime absences to children playing in the snow.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Norstein's labyrinth of memory where a little grey wolf carries Soviet grief through layered glass planes — the rare animated film I'll watch sober and still find unspeakable. The fact it was made under censorship makes it sharper.
Norstein's labyrinth of memory belongs to the small handful of animated films one would defend against any feature ever made; the layered-glass aesthetic feels carved from grief itself. Vimeo hosts a workable Russian-language print.
Norstein's layered cut-out animation on glass planes creates that uniquely dreamlike depth field - 29 minutes of memory-labyrinth made by hand. The Soyuzmultfilm Vimeo upload confirms full runtime is available.
Reviews
Through its philosophical depths, its visionary language and its use of sound and music, it raises animation to the level of the very best art cinema. It's an often melancholy creation that's steeped in ambiguity but there's a warm familiarity to it — like watching a half-remembered picture book from your childhood come to life before your eyes.
In only 29 minutes, Norstein traverses personal and national history in almost abstract sequences that mimic the working of human memory.
Festivals
- Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival 1984, Greatest Animated Film of All Time
- Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films 2002, Greatest Animated Film of All Time