The Red Turtle
In 2008, Vincent Maraval walked into the Studio Ghibli offices in Tokyo. He was a co-founder of Wild Bunch, a French production company seeking new projects. Hayao Miyazaki showed him Father and Daughter, an animated short from 2000. The director of that short was Michaël Dudok de Wit, a Dutch animator living in London. Miyazaki told Maraval that if Studio Ghibli ever made a film with a foreign artist, it would be Dudok de Wit. Maraval tracked down the animator in London to discuss a potential collaboration. Dudok de Wit initially refused the offer. His perspective changed when he learned Miyazaki wanted to work with him. The project became an international co-production between Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli and several French companies including Wild Bunch and Belvision.
Michaël Dudok de Wit originally planned to animate on paper. He intended to scan those drawings into a computer for digital coloring. Tests on a Cintiq graphics tablet led him to change his approach. He used the tablet directly instead of scanning paper. Backgrounds were drawn with charcoal on paper before being scanned. Colors were added using Photoshop software. Light and shadow effects were composited into scenes later. Live action references were shot but never rotoscoped. Animators isolated the strongest poses from actors' movements. Both the raft and the turtle were created as CGI elements. The turtle shell texture appeared separately in Photoshop before integration. Animation teams retraced linework frame by frame over CGI bases. They manually drew shadow effects before laying everything together.
A man set adrift by a storm wakes up on a beach. He discovers fresh water, fruit, and a dense bamboo forest nearby. A smooth rock hill dominates the landscape. After a few nights he begins to hallucinate. He sees a bridge leading offshore and hears a string quartet playing on the beach. He builds a raft from bamboo to sail away. An unseen creature destroys his first attempt. He tries again with a larger raft but fails once more. This time he sees the creature: a giant red hawksbill sea turtle. That evening the turtle crawls up the beach. In anger, the man hits it with a bamboo stick. He flips the animal onto its back, stranding it. Remorse returns when he finds the turtle too heavy to flip alone. He fetches water for the dying creature but arrives too late. The turtle is dead. He falls asleep beside the lifeless body.
Morning brings surprise as a red-haired woman lies unconscious inside the split shell. The man fetches water for her and builds a shelter against the sun. Rain triggers her awakening and she goes swimming. She casts the empty shell adrift while the man releases his broken raft. They reconcile and fall in love. Their union produces a red-haired son who grows curious about the world. The boy finds a glass bottle and learns their story through pictographs drawn by his parents. After falling into the sea, he discovers he swims naturally alongside green sea turtles. A tsunami strikes the island years later, destroying most of the bamboo forest. The family separates during the disaster. The young man searches for his wounded mother and missing father. Three turtles guide him to his father clinging to a large bamboo tree. The family cleans up wreckage and burns the dead bamboo together.
Years pass until the young man dreams of swimming away into the sea. Water becomes static allowing him to reach the top of a huge wave. He sees further over the horizon from that vantage point. Seeing this as his calling, he says goodbye to his parents in the morning. He swims away accompanied by three green turtles. His parents remain on the island to grow old together. One night after gazing at the Moon, the man closes his eyes and dies. The woman grieves beside him. She lies next to his body and places her hand upon his. Her hand transforms into a flipper as she changes back into the red turtle. She crawls down the beach and swims away into the ocean.
The film premiered on the 18th of May 2016 at the Cannes Film Festival. It competed in the Un Certain Regard section. On the 13th of June it opened the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Regular French release followed on the 29th of June 2016. Japan received the movie on the 17th of September 2016 through Toho. Walt Disney Japan released DVD and Blu-Ray versions on the 17th of March 2017 under the Ghibli Ga Ippai label. Sony Pictures Classics acquired North American rights in May 2016. United States audiences saw the film on the 20th of January 2017. London Film Festival screened it on the 5th of October 2016. StudioCanal distributed the UK version on the 26th of May 2017. Wild Side Vidéo handled French home video releases in 2017.
Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 93% score based on 169 reviews. The average rating reached 8.1 out of 10 points. Metacritic reported an 86 out of 100 rating from 32 reviews. Critics described universal acclaim for the project. Japanese theaters grossed $328,750 during its first weekend alone. The film earned nominations at the 89th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. Michaël Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki received the nomination. Annie Awards honored the production with multiple categories including Outstanding Achievement in Directing. Laurent Perez del Mar won for Music in an Animated Feature Production. Nils Fauth and Peter Soldan took home awards for Sound design. The Cannes Film Festival awarded Un Certain Regard Special Prize to Michaël Dudok de Wit. Chicago Film Critics Association named it Best Animated Film in December 2016.
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Common questions
Who directed The Red Turtle film?
Michaël Dudok de Wit directed the 2016 animated fantasy drama film The Red Turtle. He is a Dutch animator who lived in London when he collaborated with Studio Ghibli.
When did The Red Turtle premiere at the Cannes Film Festival?
The Red Turtle premiered on the 18th of May 2016 at the Cannes Film Festival. It competed in the Un Certain Regard section during that event.
What animation techniques were used to create The Red Turtle?
Animators drew backgrounds with charcoal on paper and scanned them for use in Photoshop software. They created CGI elements for the raft and turtle while manually drawing shadow effects frame by frame over digital bases.
How does the story end for the red-haired woman in The Red Turtle?
After her husband dies, the red-haired woman transforms back into a red turtle and swims away into the ocean. She places her hand upon his body before changing forms and leaving the beach.
Which awards did The Red Turtle win or receive nominations for?
The Red Turtle received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature from the 89th Academy Awards. It won multiple Annie Awards including Outstanding Achievement in Directing and the Un Certain Regard Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.