Corto Maltese: La cour secrète des Arcanes (2002)

Director:

Pascal Morelli

Writers:

Natalia Borodin (writer)
Hugo Pratt (graphic novel "Corto Sconta dette Arcana")

Release Date:

25 September 2002 (France)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

At the end of 1918 while civil war is raging on in Russia, antagonism is slowly spreading to the East...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Gold | Secret Organization | Prostitute | Siberia

Cast

Richard Berry	...	Corto Maltese (voice)
Patrick Bouchitey	...	Raspoutine (voice)
Barbara Schulz	...	Changaï Li (voice)
Marie Trintignant	...	La Duchesse Marina Seminova (voice)
Frédéric van den Driessche	...	(voice)
Marc Chapiteau	...	(voice)
Maxime Leroux	...	(voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hervé Bellon	...	(voice)
Philippe Cotten	...	(voice)
Emmanuel Curtil	...	(voice)
Patrice Dozier	...	(voice)
Jean-Michel Dupuis	...	(voice)
Sébastien Fromanger	...	(voice)
Bô Geste	...	(voice)
Christophe Guichet	...	(voice)
Fabrice Josso	...	(voice)
Nadja Nguyen	...	(voice)
Laure Sabardin	...	(voice)
François Siener	...	(voice)
Benjamin Van Meggelem	...	(voice)

Also Known As:

Corto Maltese en Sibérie (France) (working title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

France | Italy | Luxembourg

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | France:U | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Cuba

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#32.14)" (2004)

A perfect film

I think this is the king of all animation films. Pratt's "economic" drawing and his particular use of time are fully followed here. The action scenes are outstanding. The choice of the voices was accurate –even if one could think that Corto's voice should have a mix of different accents instead of speaking perfect french. It is, indeed, difficult to get into Corto's world at the first try; but I think the film –slowly starting, as in the original comic, with some kind of remembrance or reverie, an outside-of-time dialog with Bouche Dorée– does a great work in that way. Anyway, if at the end Corto's personality remains a mystery it must be said that it is the same for those who have read the whole series: Corto is an enigma, and the films succeeds in respecting that –instead of turning him into a simple adventure hero. Thus, the question "what is he really looking for?" remains unanswered. From my point of view, the difficulty of the film is not to get into Corto's universe for the those which are not familiar with it, but that it requires a minimum of historical knowledge. Indeed, some notions about the Russian revolution and the political situation of China at the beginnings of XX century are really helpful for the fully understanding of the film. In fact, the comic book includes some pages outlining this historical context; also, a map is as useful here as in The Lord of the Rings. In a word, watching this Corto Maltese film is as delightful as reading the comic book –and that is saying enough.