In strictly visual terms Aubade (2007) is a dark movie. Thematically however it is optimistic in a whimsical kind of way. Man finds bird dying, deceased, dead. Definitely dead. In my experience, limited admittedly, birds lying on their backs with claws in the air, tweeting weakly, die. Not in the hands of Pierre Bourrigault. Man takes bird to light bulb on stem and together they visit the desk of the woman with wings at the Animal Repair Works. Much whirring, flashing and a Heath Robinson rustic conveyor system that eventually leads to a branch of a tree that sprouts leaves as the creature passes by, to miraculously recover and soar like a ...... bird. Made in 2D and stop motion, it is entirely shot in silhouette against a backdrop of perpetual dusk, has a set lit by low voltage lighting and characters that maybe are humanoid but I'm betting no money on it. The movie sort of unfolds before our eyes. I use a word like whimsical; in fact the short is played straight, dead straight and I enjoyed it, particularly given a pleasant soundtrack by the young Italian classical guitarist and composer, Lorenzo Tomio. After being educated in fashion and design in La Rochelle, Paris, Pierre worked for over twenty years in the fashion and advertising industry, with major clients such as Benetton and Diesel. His website is ultra cool - scroll sideways and click on the various illustrations and fashion items that, were it not for the free fall of the British pound, I would want more of. I know of no other animation from the director.
This is the music performed by Monkeyworks recorded in the studio. It is all improvised. Please listen with headphones for a more fulfilling audio experience.