Astounding, vivid, and lively, this animated film directed by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach follows a relatively simple story to deep effect. Linda (Mélinée Leclerc) is a little girl wrongfully accused of selling her mother’s ring. After the ring is found, her mother (Clotilde Hesme) asks what she can do to make up for the mistake, and Linda responds that she would like her mother to make chicken and peppers. But a local strike closes all grocery stores, catapulting Linda and her mother into hijinks and obstacles as they attempt to make Linda’s beloved dish. Though unadorned at times, the film’s narrative sidesteps triteness by homing in on what pulses at the center of its narrative: grief. Chicken and peppers was a dish made by Linda’s father, who died when she was a baby, and finding a way to cook it together despite all odds becomes Linda’s and her mother’s way to talk about the unspeakable. Still, most exceptional about this film is its animation style, rendered in colorful brushstrokes. Each frame is a Fauvist fantasy of colors and shapes that bring to mind Henri Matisse and Isao Takahata. The visual style makes up for any narrative sparseness through its riot of hue and texture. In French with subtitles. 73 min.
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