The Illusionist (2010 film)

In 1959 Paris, an out-of-work illusionist packs his belongings, including an ill-tempered rabbit, and moves to London. Unable to compete with modern entertainment such as rock and roll, he plies his trade at smaller gatherings in bars, cafés, and parties. He accepts the invitation of a drunken party patron to visit a remote Scottish island, where he entertains the locals. Staying in a room above the pub, he meets a girl, Alice, who is captivated by his illusions and kindness, including a gift of red shoes.

Alice believes the downtrodden performer possesses genuine magical powers, and follows him to Edinburgh, where he performs at a modest theatre. They share a room in a run-down guest house favoured by other fading performers. The illusionist sleeps on a couch, and the girl keeps busy by cleaning and cooking food that she shares with the neighbours. The girl's affections even tame the rabbit, but the illusionist's increasingly meagre wages, spent on gifts for Alice, lead him to pawn his magic kit and secretly take on demeaning jobs.

Alice attracts the affection of a handsome young man. After the illusionist sees them walking together, he leaves her with money and a note stating "Magicians are not real". He also releases the rabbit on Arthur's Seat, where it soon meets other rabbits. As Alice moves in with her boyfriend, the illusionist departs on a train hauled by a locomotive bearing the number 4472. On the train, he performs one last simple magic trick for a child.

According to the 2006 reading of the script at the London Film School introduced by Chomet, "The great French comic Jacques Tati wrote the script of The Illusionist and intended to make it as a live action film with his daughter".London Film School (LFS), [http://www.lfs.org.uk/documents/scenario3leaflet.pdf Scenario 3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511084205/http://www.lfs.org.uk/documents/scenario3leaflet.pdf |date=11 May 2011 }}, 2005-12-19 Catalogued in the Centre National de la Cinématographie archives under the impersonal moniker "Film Tati Nº 4",{{cite web |url=http://www.theplayground.co.uk/film/home.php?aID=297 |title=Tati meets Chomet in The Illusionist |publisher=Theplayground.co.uk |date=2012-05-28 |access-date=2012-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805110833/http://www.theplayground.co.uk/film/home.php?aID=297 |archive-date=5 August 2010 |df=dmy-all }} the script was passed to Chomet by the caretakers of Tati's oeuvre, Jérôme Deschamps and Macha Makeïeff after Chomet's previous film The Triplets of Belleville was premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite news|title=Sylvain Chomet racconta The Illusionist |trans-title=Chomet tells The Illusionist |first=Antonio |last=Cuomo |url=http://www.movieplayer.it/eventi/articoli/sylvain-chomet-racconta-the-illusionist_6617/ |work=Movieplayer.it |language=it |date=17 February 2010 |access-date=30 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722042808/http://www.movieplayer.it/eventi/articoli/sylvain-chomet-racconta-the-illusionist_6617/ |archive-date=22 July 2011 |url-status=dead }} Chomet has said that Tati's youngest daughter, Sophie Tatischeff, had suggested an animated film when Chomet was seeking permission to use a clip from Tati's 1949 film Jour de fête as she did not want an actor to play her father. Sophie Tatischeff died on 27 October 2001, almost two years before the 11 June 2003 French release of The Triplets of Belleville.

The film was made at Chomet's Edinburgh film studio, Django Films, by an international group of animators directed by Paul Dutton, including Sydney Padua, Greg Manwaring and Jacques Muller.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775489/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 IMDB] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423173203/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775489/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 |date=23 April 2021 }} Retrieved 6 November 2018[https://archive.today/20080121025104/http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/review.cfm?id=998902006 Scots animation? That rings a belle] (Scotland on Sunday) It was estimated to cost around £10 million and was funded by Pathé Pictures, but in a February 2010 press conference, Chomet said that it had ended up costing only $17 million (£8.5 million in early 2008). The Herald says 180 creatives were involved, 80 of whom had previously worked on The Triplets of Belleville.[http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/more-arts-entertainment-news/why-sylvain-chomet-chose-scotland-for-the-movie-magic-of-the-illusionist-1.1034933 "Why Sylvain Chomet chose Scotland for the movie magic of The Illusionist"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627092947/http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/more-arts-entertainment-news/why-sylvain-chomet-chose-scotland-for-the-movie-magic-of-the-illusionist-1.1034933 |date=27 June 2013 }}. Matheou, Demetrios. The Herald. 15 June 2010 In The Scotsman, Chomet cites 300 people and 80 animators.[http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Sylvain-Chomet-film-director.6358987.jp "Interview: Sylvain Chomet, film director"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629171316/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Sylvain-Chomet-film-director.6358987.jp |date=29 June 2011 }} Ramaswamy, Chitra. The Scotsman. 14 June 2010 The film was primarily animated in Scottish Studios in Edinburgh (Django Films) and Dundee (ink.digital), with further animation done in Paris and London. The animation scenes set in Paris were executed at Neomis Animation studio, where the animation department was directed by Antoine Antin and the clean-up department by Grégory Lecocq. Around 5% of the work (mainly inbetweening and clean-up) was completed in South Korea.

Django Films was originally established with the intention to establish itself in the filmmaking scene with both animation and live action, however, the company is being dismantled. Django was beset with production difficulties, first losing funding for its first animated feature, Barbacoa. It then failed to secure funding for a BBC project that had been labelled "The Scottish Simpsons".{{cite web |author=unknown |url=http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/scotnews/061218_simpsons.html |title=Scotlands Simpsons The Clan |publisher=Martinfrost.ws |date=2006-12-17 |access-date=2012-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515125819/http://martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/scotnews/061218_simpsons.html |archive-date=15 May 2012 |df=dmy-all }} Chomet was then fired from the directorial duties of The Tale of Despereaux by Gary Ross.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/movies/27movi.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin |title=Name Game: A Tale of Acknowledgment for "Despereaux" Cieply Michael and Solomon Charles (2008,09,27) {{pipe}} New York Times |work=The New York Times |date=2008-09-27 |access-date=2012-06-09}}{{cite web |author=Published on Thursday 18 February 2010 09:02 |url=http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/features/New-animated-film-depicting-Edinburgh.6083471.jp |title="New animated film depicting Edinburgh in the 50s hailed as a masterpiece". Edinburgh News. 18 February 2010 |publisher=Edinburghnews.scotsman.com |date=2010-02-18 |access-date=2012-06-09 |archive-date=23 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223013000/http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/features/New-animated-film-depicting-Edinburgh.6083471.jp |url-status=live }} Django Films were very far from employing the 250 artists that it would have been required for the project, an estimated figure reported by Scotland on Sunday in 2005.{{cite web |author=Animation World Network |url=http://www.awn.com/news/business/chomets-studio-draws-animators-scotland |title="Chomets' Studio Draws Animators to Scotland. DeMott Rick" (2005-09-19) Animation World Network |publisher=Awn.com |date=2005-09-19 |access-date=2012-06-09 |archive-date=29 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429011305/http://www.awn.com/news/business/chomets-studio-draws-animators-scotland |url-status=live }}

Controversy has dogged The Illusionist,[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/7833404/Jacques-Tatis-ode-to-his-illegitimate-daughter.html "Jacques Tatis ode to his illegitimate daughter". 2010-06-16 Daily Telegraph]. Accessed 2010-08-19[http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/directors/the-shame-of-jacques-tati.html Roger Ebert's Journal; "The secret of Jacques Tati" 2010-05]. Accessed 2010-08-19 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122141837/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/directors/the-shame-of-jacques-tati.html |date=22 January 2011 }}[http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/10454/sylvain-chomet-the-trials-of-making-the-illusionist.html "Sylvain Chomet: the trials of making "The Illusionist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227222721/http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/10454/sylvain-chomet-the-trials-of-making-the-illusionist.html |date=27 December 2012 }}, "Time Out Magazine. Accessed 2010-08-19 with it being reported that "Tati was inspired to write the story in an attempt to reconcile with his eldest daughter, Helga Marie-Jeanne Schiel, whom he had abandoned when she was a baby. And although she's still alive today and may in fact be his only direct living relative, she is nowhere mentioned in the dedications, which has seriously annoyed some".{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/film-cinema/illusions-of-grandeur-2306371.html | work=Irish Independent | title=Illusions of grandeur | date=2010-08-21}}

In January 2010, The Guardian published the article "Jacques Tati's lost film reveals family's pain" stating, "In 2000, the screenplay was handed over to Chomet by Tati's daughter, Sophie Tatischeff, two years before her death. Now, however, the family of Tati's illegitimate and estranged eldest child, Helga Marie-Jeanne Schiel, who lives in the north-east of England, are calling for the French director to give her credit as the true inspiration for the film. The script of L'illusionniste, they say, was Tati's response to the shame of having abandoned his first child [Schiel] and it remains the only public recognition of her existence. They accuse Chomet of attempting to airbrush out their painful family legacy again."{{cite news |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/31/jacques-tati-lost-film-family-illusionniste |title="Jacques Tati's lost film reveals family's pain". Guardian article 2010-01-31 |work=The Guardian|date= 31 January 2010|access-date=2012-06-09 |location=London}}

On 26 May 2010, renowned film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times published a lengthy letter from Jacques Tati's middle grandson, Richard McDonald, that pinpointed historical events in the private life of Jacques Tati that the family believe were his remorseful, melancholy inspiration to write, yet never make, L'Illusionniste.{{cite news |author=The secret of Jacques Tati |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/directors/the-shame-of-jacques-tati.html |title=Roger Ebert's Journal; "The secret of Jacques Tati" 2010-05 |publisher=Blogs.suntimes.com |access-date=2012-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122141837/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/directors/the-shame-of-jacques-tati.html |archive-date=22 January 2011}}

Chomet has a different opinion about the film's origins, although acknowledging: "I never got to meet Sophie, or even speak to her about the script."[http://thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100616/ART/706159990/1007 The National article (UAE) "His master’s voice: a cartoon homage to Jaques Tati" 15 June 2010.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714123123/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20100616%2FART%2F706159990%2F1007 |date=14 July 2014 }} Accessed 2010-08-19[http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/26048-the-illusionist-opens-eiff-2010-sylvain-chomet-interview Edinburgh Film Festival article] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621031846/http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/26048-the-illusionist-opens-eiff-2010-sylvain-chomet-interview/ |date=21 June 2010 }}. Accessed 2010-08-19 Chomet said, "I think Tati wrote the script for Sophie Tatischeff. I think he felt guilty that he spent too long away from his daughter when he was working."[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/10/sylvain-chomet-belleville-rendezvous-illusionist "Why Sylvain Chomet chose Scotland over Hollywood". Gibbons, Fiachra. The Guardian. 10 June 2010]. Accessed 2010-08-19

In a June 2010 interview for The National, Chomet gave his personal reasons for his attraction to the script: "I have two young children, a four-year-old and a two-year-old. But I also have a daughter who is 17 whom I don't live with because I separated from her mother. She was 12 when I started the project and you can feel things changing."[http://thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100616/ART/706159990/1007 The National article] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714123123/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20100616%2FART%2F706159990%2F1007 |date=14 July 2014 }}. Accessed 2010-08-19 This appears to mirror the regret of a broken paternal relationship that Tati had with his own daughter Helga Marie-Jeanne Schiel. Of the story, Chomet commented that he "fully understood why [Tati] had not brought [The Illusionist] to the screen. It was too close to him, and spoke of things he knew only too well, preferring to hide behind the figure of Monsieur Hulot".[http://www.bodoi.info/tag/jacques-tati BoDoi Comic blog (French)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721185841/http://www.bodoi.info/tag/jacques-tati |date=21 July 2011 }}. Accessed 2010-08-19

Having corresponded with Tati's grandson, former Tati colleague and Chicago Reader film reviewer Jonathan Rosenbaum published an article entitled "Why I can't write about The Illusionist" in which he wrote, "Even after acknowledging that Chomet does have a poetic flair for composing in long shot that's somewhat Tatiesque, I remain skeptical about the sentimental watering-down of his art that Chomet is clearly involved with, which invariably gives short shrift to the more radical aspects of his vision". With McDonald being quoted saying, "My grandmother and all his stage acquaintances during the 1930s/40s always maintained that [Tati] was a great colleague as a friend and artist; he unfortunately just made a massive mistake that because of the time and circumstances he was never able to correctly address. I am sure his remorse hung heavy within him and it is for this reason that I believe Chomet's adaptation of l'Illusionniste does a great discredit to the artist that was Tati."[http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/?p=24181 "Why I Can't Write about The Illusionist". Rosenbaum, Jonathan. 16 January 2011]. Accessed 2011-01-16

The first footage from the film was shown at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ia6e01d5af9d3596d82e950311c35dc95 Cannes to get glimpse of Studio Pathé's Illusionist Kemp, Stuart. The Hollywood Reporter. 13-05-2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080525082640/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ia6e01d5af9d3596d82e950311c35dc95 |date=25 May 2008 }} The film premiered at the Berlinale festival in February 2010.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/alle/Alle-Detail_5631.html |title=Berlinale press release |publisher=Berlinale.de |access-date=2012-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124104829/http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/alle/Alle-Detail_5631.html |archive-date=24 January 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978032648&grpId=3659174697244816 |title=A Definite, Credible Premiere Date for 'The Illusionist' |publisher=Gather.com |access-date=2012-06-09}} The film opened the 2010 Edinburgh International Film Festival on 16 June.{{cite web |url=http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/news/2010/04/eiff-conjures-up-the-illusionist-for-opening-gala |title=EIFF conjures up The Illusionist for Opening Gala |publisher=Edfilmfest.org.uk |access-date=2012-06-09 |archive-date=11 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411231431/http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/news/2010/04/eiff-conjures-up-the-illusionist-for-opening-gala |url-status=live }}

Pathé Distribution managed distribution for France and the UK, and distribution deals were secured for Lithuania (ACME Film), Japan (Klockworx), Italy (Cinema 11), Greece (Nutopia), the United States (Sony Pictures Classics), Benelux (Paradiso), Russia and the Middle East (Phars Film).{{cite web |last=Macnab |first=Geoffrey |url=http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/berlin/european-film-market/the-ilusionist-leads-brisk-efm-sales-for-pathe/5011199.article |title="The Illusionist leads brisk EFM sales for Studio Pathé", Screen Daily. 23 February 2010 |publisher=Screendaily.com |date=2010-02-23 |access-date=2012-06-09 |archive-date=25 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241125044626/https://www.screendaily.com/the-illusionist-leads-brisk-efm-sales-for-pathe/5011199.article |url-status=live }}{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.gazeta.ru/culture/2010/02/17/a_3325765.shtml Ружье, банк и разряд по бегу] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100220153047/http://www.gazeta.ru/culture/2010/02/17/a_3325765.shtml |date=20 February 2010 }}. Gazeta. 17 February 2010 The first official trailer for the film was in Russian and was released on 13 March 2010.{{cite web |author=L'illusionniste |url=http://www.afisha.ru/movie/trailer/192512 |title=Movie Trailer |publisher=Afisha.ru |date=2012-06-04 |access-date=2012-06-09 |archive-date=22 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100322205414/http://www.afisha.ru/movie/trailer/192512/ |url-status=live }} The film was released in France on 16 May 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=120782.html|title=L'Illusionniste|work=AlloCiné|access-date=2010-06-23|archive-date=26 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826115145/http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=120782.html|url-status=live}}

The Illusionist was then released on DVD by Pathé through 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in 2011. As of 2021, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment UK is currently re-printing under licence from Pathé. It was also then released on Japanese home media by Walt Disney Studios Japan through the Ghibli Museum Library.{{cite web|title="Illusionist" Japanese Site|url=http://illusionist.jp|access-date=26 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120153051/http://illusionist.jp/|archive-date=20 January 2011|url-status=dead}}

The film opened in 84 French cinemas. According to Box Office Mojo, the film released in France on 16 June 2010 entered the box office chart at #8, with a revenue of €485,030 ($600,099) in the first weekend.{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/france/?yr=2010&wk=25&p=.htm|title=France Box Office, June 16–20, 2010|work=Box Office Mojo|access-date=2010-06-23|archive-date=7 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707232157/http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/france/?yr=2010&wk=25&p=.htm|url-status=live}}

The Illusionist opened in the United Kingdom in 42 cinemas (August 2010). It entered the UK box office at #15, with revenue of £161,900 one place behind Disney's Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, the chart dominated by Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables which grossed £3,910,596 in revenue in its first weekend of release.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160119145616/http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/article/16959/UK UK film Council], 22 August 2010

{{RT data|as of|y|m}}, the film holds {{a or an|{{RT data|score}}}} approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on {{RT data|count}} reviews with an average rating of {{RT data|average}}. Its critical consensus states: "An engrossing love letter to fans of adult animation, The Illusionist offers a fine antidote to garish mainstream fare."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_illusionist-2009|title=The Illusionist (2010)|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango|access-date={{RT data|access date|df=dmy}}|archive-date=14 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414164346/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_illusionist-2009|url-status=live}}{{RT data|edit}} It also has a score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-illusionist-1969|title = The Illusionist|website = Metacritic}}

In Télérama, Cécile Mury gave the film a rating of four stars out of five. Mury compared it to the director's previous feature film: "This Illusionist is as tender and contemplative as the Triplets were farcical and uneasy. But we find the oblique look, the talent that is particular of Sylvain Chomet. ... This world of yesterday fleets between realism and poetry."{{cite web|last=Mury|first=Cécile|date=2010-06-19|url=http://www.telerama.fr/cinema/films/l-illusionniste,409298,critique.php|title=L'Illusionniste|language=fr|work=Télérama|access-date=2010-06-24|archive-date=19 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619052630/http://www.telerama.fr/cinema/films/l-illusionniste,409298,critique.php|url-status=live}} Christophe Carrière of L'Express was not fully convinced by Chomet's directing, finding the story clever, but "blunted when Chomet lets himself be submerged by Tati's melancholy, delivering more of a homage to a master than a personal adaption. Nevertheless, it is otherwise a beautiful work, with impeccable graphics and provides some stunning sequences (based on carnivorous rabbit stew ...). One would have liked a little bit more, that's all."{{cite web|last=Carrière|first=Christophe|date=2010-06-15|url=http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/cinema/l-illusionniste_899515.html|title=L'illusionniste, plus un hommage qu'une adaptation|language=fr|work=L'Express|access-date=2010-06-24}}

Jonathan Meville of The Scotsman wrote: "Edinburgh's skyline has never looked so good, and if the city didn't exist it would be hard to believe somewhere so beautiful was real: if locals aren't inspired to take a walk up North Bridge or down Victoria Street after this, they never will be."{{Cite news|last=Meville|first=Jonathan|date=2010-06-18|url=http://news.scotsman.com/movies/Film-review-The-Illusionist-.6371778.jp|title=Film review: The Illusionist ****|work=The Scotsman|access-date=2010-09-25|location=Edinburgh}} Whilst also in The Scotsman Alistair Harkness commented that "Once you strip away the overwhelming wow factor of the film's design, the absence of strong characterisation ensures the end result is bleaker and less affecting than was probably intended".{{cite web|last=Harkness|first=Alistair|date=2010-06-18|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/EIFF-reviews-The-Illusionist-.6363930.jp|title=EIFF reviews: The Illusionist ****|work=The Scotsman|access-date=2010-06-17|archive-date=19 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619043549/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/EIFF-reviews-The-Illusionist-.6363930.jp|url-status=live}}

Tati's biographer, David Bellos, reviewing The Illusionist in Senses of Cinema was highly critical of Chomet's adaptation stating "the film is a disaster". "The great disappointment for me and I think for all viewers is that what Chomet does with the material is… well, nothing. The story he tells is no more than the sketchily sentimental plotline of L'Illusionniste. It's really very sad. All that artistry, all that effort, and all that money… for this".[http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2010/feature-articles/the-illusionist/ The Illusionist by David Bellos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103063855/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2010/feature-articles/the-illusionist/ |date=3 January 2011 }}. 2010-10-11. Senses of Cinema. Accessed 2010-10-11

Reviewing The Illusionist in The New Yorker, Richard Brody commented "Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) has directed an animated adaptation of Jacques Tati's 1956 screenplay, with none of Tati's visual wit or wild invention". "Chomet reduces Tati's vast and bilious comic vision to cloying sentimentality. The result is a cliché-riddled nostalgia trip".Brody, Richard (26 December 2010) "[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/the_illusionist_chomet The New Yorker] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730215417/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/the_illusionist_chomet |date=30 July 2013 }}"

Roger Ebert in his review wrote, "However much it conceals the real-life events that inspired it, it lives and breathes on its own, and as an extension of the mysterious whimsy of Tati". Calling it the "magically melancholy final act of Jacques Tati's career", he gave it four stars out of four.{{cite news | url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110112/REVIEWS/110119994/1023 | work=Chicago Sun-Times | title=The Illusionist | date=12 January 2011 | access-date=29 January 2011 | archive-date=23 June 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623093550/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110112/REVIEWS/110119994/1023 | url-status=dead }}

The film won the 2010 European Film Awards{{cite web|author=Staff writer|date=2010-09-21|url=http://www.cineuropa.org/newsdetail.aspx?lang=en&documentID=150868|title=Three nominees for the Best Animated Feature Film prize|work=Cineuropa|access-date=2010-09-21}} and was nominated at the 68th Golden Globe Awards{{cite web|date=2011-01-16|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/best-motion-picture-animated/all-years#year-2011|title=68th Golden Golbes|access-date=28 March 2020|archive-date=11 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811235243/https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/best-motion-picture-animated/all-years#year-2011|url-status=dead}} for Best Animated Feature Film. On 25 February 2011, The Illusionist won the first César Award for Best Animated Feature.

It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film in the 83rd Academy Awards, but lost to Toy Story 3; and an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to How to Train Your Dragon.

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• {{Official website|http://www.sonyclassics.com/theillusionist}} (US)
• {{Official website|1=http://www.patheinternational.com/en/fiche.php?id_film=577}} (Pathé)
• {{IMDb title|0775489}}
• {{Mojo title|illusionist2010}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|illusionist_2010}}
• [http://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/datenblatt.php?film_id=20100073 Press conference with Chomet] from Berlinale (main content starts at 5:35 in video)

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|title = Awards for The Illusionist

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{{César Award for Best Animated Film}}

{{European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film}}

{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Animated Film}}}}

{{Sylvain Chomet}}

{{Jacques Tati}}

{{Sony theatrical animated features}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Illusionist (2010 Film)}}

Category:2010 animated films

Category:2010 comedy-drama films

Category:2010 films

Category:2010s American films

Category:2010s British films

Category:2010s English-language films

Category:2010s French animated films

Category:2010s French-language films

Category:Animated coming-of-age films

Category:Animated film controversies

Category:Animated films set in Edinburgh

Category:Animated films set in the 1950s

Category:British animated comedy films

Category:British animated drama films

Category:British comedy-drama films

Category:British coming-of-age films

Category:English-language comedy-drama films

Category:European Film Awards winners (films)

Category:Films about magic and magicians

Category:Films directed by Sylvain Chomet

Category:Films set in 1959

Category:Films set in hotels

Category:French animated comedy films

Category:French animated drama films

Category:French comedy-drama films

Category:French coming-of-age films

Category:Jacques Tati

Category:Pathé films

Category:Scottish Gaelic-language films

Category:Sony Pictures Classics animated films

Category:Warner Bros. animated films

Category:Warner Bros. films

Category:Best Animated Film César Award winners