Tintin et moi (2003)

Director:

Anders Østergaard

Writer:

Anders Østergaard (scenario)

Release Date:

16 January 2004 (Denmark)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

Meet the man behind the masterpiece.

Plot:

A high-profiled documentary about Hergé and his major cartoon success, Tintin, based in part on previously unreleased archive tape footage. |

Plot Keywords:

Tintin | Snow | Cartoonist | Comic | German Occupation

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Numa Sadoul	...	Interviewer
Hergé	...	Himself (archive footage)
Michael Farr	...	Himself
Harry Thompson	...	Himself
Andy Warhol	...	Himself (archive footage)
Fanny Rodwell	...	Herself
Gérard Valet	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Beck	...	(voice)
Olivier Cuvelier	...	(voice)
Danièlle Denise	...	(voice)
Per Kapper	...	Model
Lars Kirchhoff	...	Model
Alan Louis	...	(voice)
Karin Mørch	...	Interviewer
Patrick Waleffe	...	(voice)

Also Known As:

Tintin and I (Australia) (DVD title) (UK)
Hergé: A Documentary Portrait (Denmark) (working title)
Tintin and Me (International: English title) (literal title)
Tintin et moi (France)
Tintin och jag (Sweden)
Tintin og mig (Denmark) (alternative title)

Runtime:

Denmark:75 min | Argentina:75 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Denmark | Belgium | France | Switzerland | Sweden

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Geneva, Canton de Genève, Switzerland

Company:

Angel Films

Trivia:

In an unusual use of special effects, Hergé's lips were re-animated to fit some of the sound clips of his voice played in the film.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#31.2)" (2004)

Appeals to a small audience but does well to make it accessible to those who just like the books

Using a series of tape recorded interviews with Georges Remy over thirty years ago by Numa Sadoul, this documentary builds a visual element and also includes contributions from others to deliver a documentary that was a lot more interesting than I expected it to be. You see for me I have never been more than a casual reader of the Tintin books and drew them from my local library at the same time as getting the Asterix books so I must admit that I wasn't too bothered about finding out more about the creator himself.

So it was a slow start for me but gradually the film drew me in because it does such a good job of maintaining the link between the man and his books, which I think is important for those viewers who are into the books but not the wider world thereof. Thus we get an understanding of the background that the strips and books were written against and how changes within the man, his employment and his country are shown within the changes in his work. Later in the film we mainly focus on the man himself but by then I was mostly engaging thanks to the nature of the delivery before this point. Of course the viewer does need to have at least some interest in the Tintin books beyond them just being comics they read as a child but the film does do a good job of trying to come and meet the audience halfway.

Overall then an interesting documentary that does try hard to overcome the fact that it was always going to appeal to a small audience no matter how good it was. Accordingly it does need you to at least care about the books and characters but it does help those of us who previously knew nothing of Hergé to have something that is still worth seeing.