– CANNES 2026: Animated and full of life, Sébastien Laudenbach’s take on the fiery opera character is a real treat
One of the national entries in the Directors’ Fortnight at the 79th Cannes International Film Festival is the animated Viva Carmen, the latest take on the famous opera character, given fresh blood by French director Sébastien Laudenbach’s most distinctive style.
At times, we live in a wonderfully wondrous world – one that can have a French composer paint one of the most memorable portraits of Spain, without ever setting foot there. Georges Bizet simultaneously managed to create one of the icons of French culture, adapted into more film interpretations than most fictional characters this side of Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Dracula and a few others. Carmen has been given westerns, jazz, hip-hop, nouvelle vague, Charlie Chaplin, Hong Kong and of course some nude treatments, but apart from a Tom & Jerry cartoon, Carmen Get It!, an elaborate animated interpretation has so far not been forthcoming.
Until now, that is. Laudenbach, not just a compatriot of Bizet’s, but also a bit of a master in his own field, as seen in The Girl Without Hands and Chicken for Linda! (co-directed with Chiara Malta), has taken on the task. Laudenbach’s minimal, “aquarellic” style can squeeze life out of just a few brush strokes, and in itself, it feels very musical, so it’s a splendid choice for the job. He has also added a fresh perspective, that of a group of young street urchins roaming the alleys of Seville and crossing paths with the sultry gypsy as well as her ever-passionate would-be lover, dragoon corporal Don José. A torero also enters the scene a little later, the irreplaceably handsome Escamillo (an assessment most heartily shared by Escamillo himself), and things get fiery for all involved. It’s all here, and more to boot, in bustling Seville, circa 1820.
The “more” bit especially involves a group of kids, who share the action on an equal footing with the classical characters. We first meet young Salvador, the apprentice of the blind Antonio, a travelling knife-sharpener with the gift of foresight, as they roll into town. In a scene with echoes of Disney’s legendary The Jungle Book, we see Salvador playing his wooden flute by the river, which leads to a chance encounter – not with Kaa the snake this time around, but with a swimming Carmen, coming across as quite reptilian herself. Salvador also runs into a gang of loveable, rather than threatening, thugs, little Bola and Piranha, who are led by the slightly older Belén, a streetwise girl with a more-than-slight ninja quality about her. The kids are quite organically written into the story, providing a treat for both the young audience and their parents.
Among assorted other treats, we hear multi-talented actress and musician Camélia Jordana voicing the title role, with Milo Machado-Graner (from Anatomy of a Fall and the 2026 Critics’ Week closing film, Goodbye Cruel World) as Salvador. The newly written incidental music by Amine Bouhafa and Isabelle Laudenbach recalls the great Paco de Lucía, who indeed collaborated on Carlos Saura’s Carmen in 1983. The original French title, Carmen l’oiseau rebelle (lit. “Carmen, the Rebellious Bird”) cleverly quotes the famous Habanera song (“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”). As for Carmen’s eyebrows, they’re worth the price of admission alone.
Viva Carmen was produced by Folivari and La Garde Montante with international sales by Global Constellation.
