What a great way to start off the journey than with an Academy Award nominated short! I love this animated film so much that I had to include a still from the film to my picture header.
Disclaimer: Please watch the film first if you don’t want me to spoil it for you!
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Part 2:
Madame Tutli-Putli is a stop motion-animated short film by Canadians Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the film introduces the viewer to the character of Madam Tutli-Putli, a plain and fragile figure.
She meets the most unfriendly and odd passengers. Two old man play a game of chess while sitting on their opened luggage, located on the luggage compartment. How they managed to fit in that small and narrow space I will never know! The train’s rough speed jolts all the pieces that the only way of winning is when the locomotive knocks down your queen. It is no longer a game of strategy, but a game of luck, determined by the train. The most disturbing passenger is the one sitting across from Madame Tutli-Putli. The perverted slimebag visually violates our heroine, gesturing with his fingers what he desires to do to her. It is a comic, yet perturbing scene.
As darkness falls, an eerie blue energy gives life to the immobile train as if it has become a living organism. The train from hell speeds in an alarming rate, and unstoppable, destroys everything on its path. In this instance, her real journey begins.
The film has an obviously disturbing plot, which is the emphatic aspect of Madame Tutli-Putli. For me, the idea of the train as a transportation to hell (partly due to its alarming speed, in which the train destroys everything in its path, including innocent animals) is clearly insinuated.
The expression “The light at the end of the tunnel” is undoubtedly suggested in the final scene, where Madame Tutli-Putli, after dozing off and finding the train empty of passengers but herself, follows the insect to the head of the locomotive. The butterfly that first vexes the heroine becomes an angel at the end of the short film. Its silhouetted transformation is clear. The butterfly guards over Madame Tuli-Putli, and helps her when she stumbles and loses her way. It flutters on the table and sits at her eye level, undeniably wanting to be seen. On the other hand, the ending challenges this idea of the butterfly as a guardian angel since we are presented with a morbid scenario with the raiders of the train and with the unresolved last scene.
The “villains” or “demons” who steal the organs of the passengers are perhaps standing in for the angel of death that literally removes the vitality (spirit) from a person.
The last scene is ambiguous, for we do not know what happens to Madam Tutli-Putli after she reaches the light. Assuming that the moment from her awakening to her walking towards the light is an illusion; her body is in reality shutting down, and she is eventually doing to die. This is usually the moment when one is near death. In a medical or logical point of view (from watching to many medical dramas), the scene in which Madame Tutli-Putli frantically struggles to find her way in the intricate maze of the train suggests the moment when the paramedics are trying to revive her. Of course, this is not a medical drama or a logical short film; thus, this latter theory is null.
Going back to the eerie invaders and the butterfly, both, I argue, are angels of death. It is only logical that the little insect is the embodiment of death since it leads the protagonist towards the light after all the passengers have been “killed.” If the final scenes are indeed a near-death dream, the butterfly as angel of death is fitting. It is too unlikely that she is the only survivor in this horrific ordeal.
There are many unanswered and vague questions about the plot, but these puzzles are what makes the short film wonderful to watch.
In terms of the technical aspects of the animation, I give kudos to the animators for putting a lot of effort on the details, no matter how minute it was. The realism of Madame Tutli-Putli’s huge eyes is striking. Regardless of the puppets’ emotionless face, the eyes reveal everything about the character; voice is not required because the eyes speak for themselves. The tears on her face are extremely moving. One can definitely feel Madam Tutli-Putli’s emotions.
Overall, I really love this animation short film. The plot’s mystery appeals the viewer, and the flawless technicality strengthens the quality of the animation.
