Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Red Turtle is a 2016 animated fantasy drama film that tells its entire story without a single word of dialogue. The narrative follows a man who becomes shipwrecked on an uninhabited island where his attempts to escape are thwarted by a mysterious red turtle. The creature serves as the central antagonist and catalyst for the man's transformation from a solitary survivor to a father and eventually a grandfather.
The Red Turtle premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 69th Cannes Film Festival on the 18th of May 2016. It was also screened as the opening film of the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival on the 13th of June 2016. The regular French release occurred on the 29th of June 2016.
The Red Turtle was written and directed by Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit. The film was co-produced by Wild Bunch and Studio Ghibli in association with Why Not Productions. The screenplay was written by de Wit and Pascale Ferran.
The Red Turtle animation was created using a graphics tablet and charcoal on paper before being scanned and colored in Photoshop. Both the raft and the turtle were created as CGI, but the animation team retraced the linework frame-by-frame to maintain a hand-drawn feel. Live action references were shot for the scenes but nothing was rotoscoped.
At the end of The Red Turtle, the woman transforms back into the red turtle after her husband dies. This transformation reveals the true nature of the turtle and the woman, suggesting that the turtle was a selkie-like figure who had taken human form to experience life with the man. The film's lack of dialogue allows the audience to interpret the ending in multiple ways.