Memoir of a Snail

Memoir of a Snail is a 2024 Australian adult animated comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Adam Elliot. It stars the voices of Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Eric Bana, Magda Szubanski, Dominique Pinon, Tony Armstrong, and Jacki Weaver.

The film had its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 10 June 2024, and is scheduled to be released in Australia by Madman Entertainment on 17 October 2024.

Plot
Grace, a young girl in 1970s Australia, begins collecting snails after her mother's death. She and her twin brother Gilbert live with their father Percy, a former juggler who is now paraplegic with an alcohol use disorder. The siblings are close despite this adversity, and Gilbert defends Grace from schoolmates who tease her for her cleft lip.

The twins are separated when their father dies in his sleep, sent to foster homes hundreds of miles away from each other. Grace moves in with a swinger couple, Ian and Narelle, in Canberra, while Gilbert is sent to a family of religious fundamentalists in Western Australia.

Grace eventually befriends an elderly woman named Pinky, who is there for Grace as she grows up and begins to faces challenges as an adult, including a short-lived marriage to a microwave mechanic. When Pinky dies, Gracie brings her ashes to the vegetable garden and sets her jar of snails free.

Voice cast

 * Sarah Snook as Grace Pudel and the Narrator
 * Charlotte Belsey as Young Grace
 * Kodi Smit-McPhee as Gilbert Pudel
 * Mason Litsos as Young Gilbert
 * Eric Bana as a magistrate
 * Magda Szubanski
 * Dominique Pinon as Percy Pudel, the father of Grace and Gilbert
 * Tony Armstrong as a mechanic who Grace briefly marries
 * Jacki Weaver as Pinky, a former table dancer who befriends Grace
 * Paul Capsis as Ian and Narelle, a swinger couple who cares for Grace after her father's death
 * Nick Cave as Bill Clarke
 * Bernie Clifford
 * Davey Thompson

Production
Memoir of a Snail was developed over an eight-year period. Filming occurred in Melbourne in May 2023. In February 2024, it was announced that Sarah Snook was cast as the lead.

Release
Memoir of a Snail premiered on 10 June 2024 at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it won the Cristal Award for a Feature Film. The film will be released in Australia by Madman Entertainment on 17 October 2024, and in the United States by IFC Films on 25 October 2024 as a limited release, followed by a wider release in November.

Critical reception
Peter Debruge of Variety commended director Adam Elliot's dedication to a "dark and surprisingly moving brand of storytelling" and praised the film's voice cast and score. In Deadline, Stephanie Bunbury noted repetitive elements of the plot and dialogue but argued that these flaws underscored the film's themes of human imperfection.