Nina Gantz was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Rotterdam. Her graduation film from the St Joost in Breda Art School, Zaliger, went on to be selected at 37 festivals including the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Encounters Film Festival and the Sichuan Festival in China where it was awarded the Golden Panda for Best Student Film.
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, would have a field day analysing this film. In short, Edmond is a grown man, with a rather excessive desire to love. Throughout the film, he regresses into his memories of young adulthood, childhood and beyond.
The transitions themselves of Edmond getting younger and younger are expertly executed by the film makers. Instead of cutting, they create what is essentially a one take stop motion animation. Each transition in physical space is simultaneously also a transition in time, going further and further back.
The animation is, in a word, stellar. The opening has a shot out in the wild where Edmond’s clothes can be seen ruffling in the wind. In another shot we see Edmond struggling to drag a heavy rock through the woods, while sounds of scratching woodland terrain and crackling undergrowth weigh down every heave. The “rock” is clearly a wad of cotton material, but it feels like it weighs a ton.
It’s simple, yet fantastic little things like that which makes people suspend their disbelief.
The story is highly inventive and I shan’t even attempt to inflict any form of pop-psychology trying to interpret the story in this short review. It’s very clear, although, I feel, it still leaves itself open to a wide array of interpretations. The act of eating, or consuming rather, is a reoccurring and most important metaphor.
Edmond is a brilliant little film, well crafted and well thought out, with a beautifully constructed ending. Definitely one to watch!
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