Pachyderme

Pachyderme is a 2022 French animated short film directed by Stéphanie Clément. Blending traditional and computer animation, the film is a subtle narrative about a young girl's survival of childhood abuse. The animation creates a visual metaphor for the dissociative nature of the trauma she suffers. It features the voice of Christa Théret. It won Best Short Film at the Manchester Animation Festival and Best Animated Short at the Foyle Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Synopsis
A young woman remembers her vacations to the countryside to stay with her grandparents. The story is told in fairytale-like, concise animations based on children's books, which ambiguously and subtly create an eerie atmosphere, where the young girl perceives the grandfather as a silent, foreboding presence. The film shows the girl's unsettling room where she tries to kill "monsters". She is frightened by the knots of wood in the ceiling that resemble eyes, and the creaking of the old wooden floorboards at night. The way there is indicated by the tusk of a pachyderm. One day she pricks herself with a fishing hook and her grandfather gives her the "healing kiss". Although it wouldn't hurt anymore, she would smell her grandfather's saliva all day long. He removes her bike's training wheels and takes her to a lake where a woman has already drowned. At night he would take her into the forest, where she had to be very quiet to listen to the forest animals. One day he enters her room and she tries to sink into the wallpaper to hide. Her grandmother, however, repeatedly emphasizes that her room is safe and that nothing can happen to her at their home.

One day it snows in the summer and her grandfather dies. That same night, the tusk is broken and later glued back together by her grandmother. Afterwards, the girl rarely visits her grandmother. After her grandmother's death, the girl matures into womanhood and atempts to free herself from the trauma of her childhood by sinking the tusk into the lake. But the lake can never be deep enough.

Production
Stéphanie Clément and screenwriter Marc Rius both originate from Provence. The project began from their shared desire to work together and approach the topic of incest. They worked to craft a film based on various psychological defense mechanisms, such as dissociation and repression. According to Clément, their story focuses on "an emotionally anesthetized character who struggles with their own memories". They chose the remoteness of the south of France as their setting and wanted the narrative to reflect the "banality" of everyday life there. They also adapted the film's color scheme to capture the landscape of the region. They used dreamlike imagery and symbolism to ensure viewers were more receptive to the difficult subject matter and to further evoke different feelings in the viewer.

Pachyderme was produced by Tu Nous ZA Pas Vus (TNZPV) Productions and Folimage. It received support from the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), Arte France, Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Région Grand Est, Département de la Haute-Savoie, Département de la Drôme, Valence Romans Agglo, and SACEM in association with the Maison du Film. The film blends 2D animation from the Folimage studio with the Blender CGI technology of TNZPV Studio's 3D teams.

Release
The film premiered on 24 April 2022 at the Festival national du film d'animation in Rennes. It was broadcast in Germany and France on 12 June 2022 through the Arte television channel. It was also screened in the official competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 13 June 2022. Distribution is handled by Miyu Distribution.