At the beginning of the film a quote from Marcel Proust about The Memory is showed to us and memories are the starting point for this Attila Marcel.

Sylvain Chomet director of films like Les Triplettes of Belleville or L'illusionniste passes from Animation to live-action, in a sweet project that transmit important messages to the audience.

Paul is a gentle man, very well educated and lived all his life with his two aunts because his parents died when he was two years old. Since then due to the trauma Paul never spoke again. Paul is a wonderful pianist, and works with the two aunts in a studio where both give dance lessons. Constantly sad and distressed for being over protected during all his life, Paul follows a very schematic daily routine as her aunts seem not to let him grow. The death of his parents was never subject matter in their home and there is some kind of mystery that her aunts refuse to tell, causing Paul to have a life completely suffocated life without will or choices in his life. Even being a sad individual, Paul has a strong connection with music, and it is through the piano that he can express everything that he has trapped inside.

All the characters in the film could easily have been taken or adapted to an animation, but it is something you might expect due to Sylvain Chomet's curriculum. The film's main character Paul definitely seems out of one! Played brilliantly by Guillaume Gouix, his whole posture, mime and sometimes very clumsy, toasts the screen with absolutely delightful scenes and some are quite emotional too. Hélène Vincent and Bernadette Lafont (here in her last work on the big screen after her death last year at age 73) beautifully interpret the two aunts also quite peculiar, dress the same, behave the same way and not by anything we see them separate. Anne Le Ny as Madame Proust, a key character from the film behind a clumsy whole picture, will help Paul not through very conventional methods. But Paul will also count on little help from another peculiar family friend, Monsieur Coelho, a blind man who will led him to meet Madame Proust and he will also provide some good moments of laugh.

Attila Marcel is a trip to the memories of Paul, distant memories that time has helped to erase. To recover some of them, Paul will reveal the mystery to his constant grief, always with the aim of overcoming the traumas of the past, traumas that neither he knows what, and finally be happy living a normal life like any other young person like him.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems of the film is the fact that take a long time to come to some resolution. We are stuck in the same place too long. The movie does not fail to entertain us but the late development makes the end result be a bit disappointing. He guides us in a way that in the end exchange turns. Not a big turnaround impact that it could have. Despite all the nice comic parts of the story, the dramatic part should have been taken more seriously since they can put us thinking and questioning how far our memories, good or bad, can lead us or have influence in our lives. Some of the strongest scenes in the film can have an impact on us, addressing very important issues such as domestic violence, environment and social exclusion, but even without intention seems that never gets to be a balance between comedy vs drama genre. The actors manage to put the necessary emotional intensity in parts but also can make us laugh when needed, but the transition from one genre to another is not very harmonious sometimes.

Attila Marcel is a pleasant trip to a very colorful France where people and music are connected. Also demonstrates how difficult childhood memories can greatly influence the lives of certain people. A film that carries beyond large messages a huge heart.