The Hat (1999)

As Good As It Gets

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"Le chapeau" or "The Hatt" is a 6.5-minute short film made by Michèle Cournoyer back in 2000 and it is probably still his most known work to this date. The movie is in black-and-white and is clearly sexually graphic on several occasions on terms of both males and females. Well.. we only really see a female, but Cournoyer makes a lot with the shapes of her body. The film also has a deeper message about sexual abuse, but I personally found this one rather forgettable as it just wasn't present enough during the film. At least, it did not feel this way really. So yeah, it is a good film in terms of style and animation too, but in terms of story and substance, this could have been a lot better. Overall, I would not recommend it and if I watch some other works by the filmmaker, which I probably will at some point, then I hope these will be superior.

This animated short makes a lot of use of negative space to focus our attentions on the "simple" animated figures at the heart of this story. We see an exotic dancer in front of an audience remember the past where she was abused as a child, with the image of a man in a hat being a strong key and accordingly a constant part of the animation throughout the film.The first thing to say is that this film may be short and may be animated but it is an uncomfortable watch which becomes a tough watch by the end. The subject is child abuse and it is not one that the film shirks away from as it contains very sexual imagery throughout and it moves between memory and present in a way that blurs and connects. This connection was perhaps my only issue with the short because I did not like the very specific thematic linking (by use of the hats and eyes) of the character's abuse as a child and her role as a dancer. In the specific it is a fair part of the film, but if you take it as a general statement then it is not one I really liked – so I chose to take it as this story for this character and engage with it as such.With this aside the blurring of sexual value and sexual abuse in the past and present is really cleverly done with the shape and image of the hat being used very well. It is occasionally very graphic but in terms of making you uncomfortable it succeeds but never just for the sake of it but rather to achieve the goal. I found it quite harrowing at the end and, although as a general statement I do not think it works, but as a specific story it is very well told and very cleverly animated – but it really is a disturbing and tough film to watch.

This is a film sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada and it's very, very different from anything else I've seen from this organization. In this case, the content is very, very sexual and the film is a black & white cartoon about sexual abuse. It's very graphic and disturbing--and certainly NOT something to show the kids, unless perhaps you watch it with them and discuss what is occurring. But understand that even though the graphics are simple, they are GRAPHIC! It's also not particularly pleasant viewing--particularly if you've been through the horrors of sexual abuse yourself. For the right audience, this is a very good film--just think twice before viewing.

In 6 minutes, with clever animation and no words spoken, Cournoyer succeeded in making a clear statement about child abuse. On one hand, she reminds us there there are long lasting and painful consequences to this kind of abuse, but most important I think is she makes us feel, through the film, part of the horror. A simple presentation that hides a lot hard work and intelligence.