My Love Affair With Marriage

Éligible pour :

• Meilleur long métrage d’animation en coproduction
• Meilleure contribution créative dans un long métrage d’animation : Loïc Collignon (Son)

Synopsis :

As a child, Zelma runs free and swings through trees with her best friends, a band of feral cats. When her family has to move away, she sadly waves goodbye. In her new school she is bullied for being different. She has her first big crush – euphoria! – but the boy completely ignores her. Elita, the most popular girl, shows her how to get attention by becoming a weaker, more submissive version of herself. Zelma practices Elita’s moves every day. Coming of age brings blood and creepy compliments. Her Mother insists that virginity is her most important asset, that her value is measured by marriage and children. Early sexual encounters confound Zelma. Jonas, an older artist takes advantage of her infatuation with art plunging Zelma into a six-month depression. Her best friend Darya thinks she can drink and mess with drugs as much as men with tragic results. Horrified, Zelma realizes that the only way to get ahead is to stick to a man. She is comforted by marriage to Sergei, but it soon veers into a cycle of abuse. A second, gender-bending marriage to Bo, though brief, deepens her understanding of herself and her place in the world. Zelma has the uncanny ability to visually interpret her feelings and the events around her. She can even see Mythology Sirens, three mysterious, musical creatures who relentlessly hound her to conform to stereotypes of what it means to be a woman. Counterbalancing the Sirens is Biology who with a clear and unsentimental vision guides us through Zelma’s body and brain chemistry as she falls in and out of Love. Much of the film takes place in the Soviet Union before, during and after its collapse. With a mostly American cast, surreal dreamlike sets and moody lighting, the story is elevated, making the characters and events seem mythical.