Jack et la Mècanique du Cœur

Miss Acacia from “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart”

Concept art by Nicoletta Ceccoli https://www.nicolettaceccoli.com/special-projects/

Jack from “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart”

Concept art by Stephanie Martinez: http://www.stefmartinez.com/en/

Dr. Madeleine from “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart”.

Concept art by Stephanie Martinez http://www.stefmartinez.com/en/

French filmmaker and illusionist Georges Méliès [1] is probably best known for his 1902 short film, “A Trip to the Moon” [2]. Inspired by the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, “A Trip to the Moon” captures and exemplifies a very niche Edwardian, stop-motion, vaudevillian aesthetic that not many works can duplicate. I was first introduced to to Méliès’ work in the 2007 graphic novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick. It is thanks to “A Trip to the Moon” that I recognized Georges Méliès in the film “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart”.

[Concept art of Georges Méliès’ stage by Stephanine Martinez]

Embarrassingly enough, I didn’t recognize Méliès by name at first and only realized that it was him when he unfurled his portable stage in front of Jack with curtains printed with the famous image from “A Trip to the Moon”. 

The intrepid filmmaker-tinkerer caricature of the famous illusionist is kind of a French stereotype with his interjections of French words and phrases into his dialogue and endless flirtation with “the twins”. His wisdom regarding love, confidence, and growing-up are nonetheless very important to Jack, in all three versions of the story, despite his own romantic shortcomings.

Another reference to the real-life filmmaker is the short film “Romeo and Juliets”, as I will call it, that Méliès theatrically presents to the population of the Extraordinarium. It seems to be a reference to “Under the Seas”, Méliès’ 1907 take [3] on the classic “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Verne.

I think Georges Méliès’ presence in Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is very important, and I absolutely love that throughout the movie we get a few choppy, black-and-white glimpses through the lens of Méliès’ prized cinematograph. It adds a level of immersion to the historical setting of the story, and makes us appreciate how far filmmaking has come thanks in part to the work of Georges Méliès.

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All images and quotes are from the film Jack and Cuckoo-Clock Heart and the original novel by Mathias Malzieu.

Image credits:

Méliès and his camera: https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-134061/photos/

Méliès’ stage: http://www.stefmartinez.com/en/

Georges and the twins: https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-134061/photos/

"Romeo and Juliets” t: https://animatedviews.com/2014/jack-and-the-cuckoo-clock-heart/

Sources and additional information:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon

Here I will rank my top 10 favorite songs between the movie and concept album versions of Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart. I personally believe that the French concept album songs are quite different from the translations in the English movie, so I will rank them independently. That means that one song may end up on this list twice for the reasons I will explain as we go down the list. Let’s start from number 10:

10. “Mademoiselle Clé”

As simple and intimate as this scene in the movie is, I’m going to have to put the French version on this list. Mainly because it stays a bit more true to the scene in the novel which is much less PG than the movie. The French song shares the line “...she works her Blue Fairy magic on me, like in Pinocchio, but more real. Except it’s not my nose that’s growing longer.” The implications of that quote in the novel and the French song are obvious, but are much more loosely intimated in the film. Also, I simply prefer the composition of the French album song over the movie version.

You can find the French song from the concept album here on Dioysos’ official Youtube channel and the scene from the movie here on a fan’s Youtube channel.

9. “Tais-Toi Mon Coeur”

This song can only be found in the concept album and corresponds more directly to the plot of the book than the movie. The title means “Be Quiet my Heart” (or, more aggressively, “shut up, my heart”). It is such a catchy song and the old music video associated with it has a really cool animation style which some hoped would have been the style of the entire movie, but alas.

You can find the official song here on Dionysos’ official Youtube channel and the music video here on a fan’s Youtube channel.

8. “Flamme A Lunettes”

There are actually three versions of the song “Flame with Glasses” because it also shows up in the book. The book version is quite short, and is actually the most similar to the movie for that reason. However, the song in the concept album encapsulates more of the action in the novel itself, not just the song that Miss Acacia sings. Additionally, the imagery in the song from the album is much richer and Jack and Miss Acacia’s banter goes on for a little longer. Even though the scene in the movie is visually intriguing and captures some of the imagery with its setting, I’m going to have to put the album version on this list.

You can find the French song from the concept album here on Dionysos’ official Youtube channel and the scene from the English movie here on a fan’s Youtube channel.

7. “L'école De Joe”

“The School of Joe” can only be found in the movie in its instrumental form, so I don’t want to make a direct comparison to the lyric version in the album. However, I don’t think I have to. Both incarnations capture the same menacing energy and climactic build, and what the movie may lack in lyrics it sure makes up for in the scene. And while I hate to put Joe nearly halfway up my list, the song is just too powerful to put any lower.

You can find the French song from the concept album here on Dionysos’ official Youtube channel.

6. “Malagueña”

Doing the research on the Spanish songs in the album and the movie sure gave me a run for my money because I had no idea about the multilingual talents of Olivia Ruiz. She both voices and sings Miss Acacia in the French movie, the concept album (which is in French, of course), as well as the Spanish songs in both (if not all) of the translations of the movie. Her version of “La Malagueña”, a traditional Mexican Huapango song, was originally covered on two of her albums [1], and is of course identical in the concept album and the movie because there is no need to translate it. It was tough for me to choose between “Malagueña” and “Quijote”, but for the wonderful and fantastical elements surrounding it in the movie and for the great references to quotes from the novel during the scene, “Malagueña” makes it on this list.

You can find the song from the concept album here on Dionysos’ official Youtube channel and an amazing live performance of it by Olivia Ruiz here.

5. “Le Jour Le Plus Froid du Monde”

Thanks to this Youtube video and the fanart included in it, “The Coldest Day on Earth” was the first song I ever heard from the “La Mécanique Du Cœur” concept album and was how I discovered the movie in the first place. I have always been an enthusiast for anything vaguely steampunk, and a rhythm set by cuckoo-clocks is exactly the kind of song I’m looking for. Once I figured out what the French lyrics actually mean, I knew I needed to find out more about this weird world. It took me exactly two years to get my hands on a copy of the book after watching the movie, and I discovered the entire concept album around that time as well. Perhaps this song should be number one on this list because it is literally the reason I have this blog to begin with, but I just can’t deny how much I love the other songs at the top of this list.

I also can’t fail to mention the sort of reprised version of the song, called “Le Réveil Des Coucous Vivants”, or “The Awakening of the Living Cuckoos” which makes an appearance very early in the movie, but is actually the last song on the concept album. If you want to experience an amazing example of how cuckoos can be used as incredibly haunting musical instruments, I recommend you check it out.

You can find the French song from the concept album here on Dionysos’ official Youtube channel here is the link to “Le Réveil Des Coucous Vivants” on their channel as well.

4. “La Panique Mécanique”

I absolutely love how much this song builds and how it captures the experience of traveling on a train alone for the first time. This song does make a shortened appearance in the movie during Jack’s train ride, but I’m not a huge fan of how they altered the lyrics. Another thing that makes the French album version so much more striking than the English movie version is Alain Bashung’s [2] performance of Jack the Ripper’s lines. His voice is so mysterious and menacing and creates the perfect bridge into the chaotic latter portion of the song. Perhaps it is my relative lack of exposure to a variety of French voices, but his rendition just hits different than the English one in my opinion.

You can find the French version from the concept album here on Dionysos’ official Youtube channel. Unfortunately I can’t find a good link to the scene in the movie, so you will have to do some digging yourself if you are interested.

3. “Jack Et La Mécanique Du Cœur”

In third place is the French concept album version of the titular song “Jack Et La Mécanique Du Cœur”. It is the very first song on the concept album and serves as a sort of summary for the plot and kind of resembles a Greek chorus [3] that speculates what our protagonist Jack is going to do. It includes some interjection from Georges Méliès and ends with him saying “Et maintenant, bon film” (”And now, enjoy the film”), which I find very cute since it’s sort of like we are watching Méliès’ own film adaption of the story, which he tells Jack during the movie that he could very well make.

You can find the French concept album version here on Dionysos’ official Youtube channel.

2. “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart” (English version from the end credits  of the movie)

Maybe this is a cop-out, but I just couldn’t decide which version of this song to put on this list, so I included both. After much deliberation, I decided to put the English version at number two instead of three. It seems sacrilegious somehow, but I just had to put it a little higher for a couple of reasons. One, I discovered it first so it lodged itself in my consciousness before the French version did, and two, I just can’t get over Orlando Seale’s voice in this song. Of course Mathias Malzieu is completely unparalleled, but there is something about Seale’s optimistic and gallant tone that is completely enrapturing.

It’s sort of a bummer that this amazing song only shows up at the very end of the credits, but I must admit it is a difficult song to place anywhere else in the film considering the inexplicable presence of Méliès (which makes it hard to put at the beginning for the sake of the plot). But, it also doesn’t make sense at the end since it’s a summary of what we just watched and the final line tells us to “enjoy the film” as the last few credits roll up on the screen. Regardless, I should be happy that the song was ever translated into English because I can thank it for keeping my interest and passion for the story alive.

You can find the English version here on a fan’s Youtube channel.

1. “L’Homme Sans Trucage”

And finally, number one. You’d think “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart” would have taken this spot considering how much I went on about it, but “L’Homme Sans Trucage” (”The Man Without Special Effects”) from the concept album has an absolutely tangible feeling of adventure and boundlessness with instrumentals that are out of this world. Who else but Dionysos can mix record-scratching, keyboard, banjo, drums, and more simultaneously and make it sound that amazing? The song perfectly captures the “coming of age” theme of the story, and the imagery in the song is beyond inspiring. 

I also need to mention the reference in the title and in the chorus to Méliès’ diary in the story which he titled “The Man without Special Effects” (or “The Man Who Was No Hoax” per the English translation of the novel). That diary in both the movie and the novel is Méliès’ retelling of his time spent with Jack (which is why I think putting the song “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart” in the beginning of the movie would be so cool) and is emphasized a bit more in the novel than in the movie. That diary makes a sort of legend out of Jack, and its title implies entirely different layers of meaning between the movie and the novel. 

To give the movie some credit, though, the scene is a lot of fun, and I love how they styled it à la Méliès with paper cutouts and the reference to “The Impossible Voyage” [4] by the real Georges Méliès. The scene stays true to the surrealism of the story, and is definitely quite enjoyable. But, in the end, I have to give “L’Homme Sans Trucage” the number one spot on my list.

You can find the French version from the concept album here on Dionysos official Youtube channel and the scene from the movie here on Shout! Factory’s Youtube channel.

There are 31 tracks (including interludes) on the complete “La Mécanique Du Cœur” concept album, so of course I couldn’t include them all here. The styles and tones of each song are so unique, and I think the entire album is worth a listen. I first listened to the entire album roughly concurrently with the plot of the novel, and that was a pretty great way to experience it, in my opinion. But, if you’re like me and you aren’t exactly fluent in French, it’s not like you’ll get many spoilers from the songs.

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All quotes are from the film and/or novel “Jack and Cuckoo-Clock Heart” by Mathias Malzieu unless otherwise specified.

Sources and additional information:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malague%C3%B1a_Salerosa

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Bashung

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_chorus#:~:text=A%20Greek%20chorus%2C%20or%20simply,voice%20on%20the%20dramatic%20action.

The infamous serial killer known as Jack the Ripper makes a very quick and pretty random cameo in Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, both the novel and the movie (and of course in the song “La Panique Mécanique” in the concept album). 

So, what’s the deal with Jack the Ripper in this story, and does his presence make any sense here? 

Before I get into any analysis, my very first thought when the Ripper showed up in the film was if his presence is at all historically accurate in the setting of the story. During Jack’s (not the ripper, the protagonist) trip to Andalusia, it is approximately the year 1888, the year of Jack’s 14th birthday. As it so happens, Jack the Ripper was active in 1888, and though he was still hanging around the Whitechapel district of London at the time [1] his presence on the train is not out of the question.

With that out of the way, Jack the Ripper makes a much more interesting appearance in the book than in the movie. I don’t want to go into detail about the entire moment in the novel since I encourage you to read it for yourself, but I would like to discuss Jack the Ripper’s key bit of dialogue in the book which he repeats to Jack:

“Don’t be afraid, my boy. You’ll soon learn how to survive by frightening others.” [2]

That line is very similar to the Ripper’s lyrics in “La Panique Mécanique” from the album and the movie, though the exact words vary between the three adaptations of the story. I find the French lyrics from the concept album to be the most vivid and true to the real-life killer, and the movie lyrics are similar in theme but simplified and slightly less graphic.

No matter the version you encounter, I find the repeated concept of “scaring to survive” very interesting. I think it can be taken both literally and figuratively here. In a more literal sense, it may be an insight into the mind of a serial killer, who kills repeatedly and usually with the same M.O. as if it were their life force, which may be why Jack the Ripper very clearly resembles a vampire in the movie.

In a more figurative sense, our protagonist Jack also finds himself “scaring to survive” when he gets his job at the ghost train as a frightener in order to stay in the Extraordinarium with Miss Acacia. And if we really wanted to dig deep, this message also harkens back to Georges Méliès’ wisdom to Jack about how his cuckoo-clock heart, the thing that makes him abnormal and often scary, is how he may ultimately enchant Miss Acacia.

It is truly on-brand for the story to have as random a cameo as Jack the Ripper and it certainly adds to the surrealism of the story. And while his presence might not entirely make logical sense, I think his brief moment in the story has multiple layers of meaning, if only to embody the fear of a young man making his way out in the world alone for the first time.

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All images and quotes are from the film Jack and Cuckoo-Clock Heart and the original novel by Mathias Malzieu.

Sources:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

One of my favorite things about the movie version of Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is how they take Malzieu’s striking metaphors and vivid descriptions and turn them into seemingly ordinary moments that the characters don’t even seem to question. However, if you haven’t read the original novel, some of those moments might leave you more confused than intrigued. Not only that, but some of the details in the movie might seem to come out of nowhere without additional context.

Full disclosure, I will be sharing some characters and details from the novel that do not appear in the movie and while they aren’t spoilers, per say, if you would like to read them for yourself first I recommend that you do.

1. “Do you often sprout Italian ice cream cones?”

If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about:

This interesting sight only lasts for a few seconds, and the “Italian ice cream cones” are gone once the camera pans around Jack. The presence of the purple swirls is only addressed by the characters in two lines, where Jack asks “Do often sprout Italian ice cream cones?” and Miss Acacia replies, “Only if I snack on spaghetti after midnight.” That little exchange is kind of funny in and of itself, but its origin in the novel is slightly less innocent.

In the book, when Jack first sees Miss Acacia singing in the town square, he thinks, “Her breasts resemble two meringues so exquisitely baked it would be rude not to eat them on the spot.” First of all, yikes. Second of all, double yikes when you realize these characters are both canonically ten years old. But, what I’m more curious about is how we go from “meringues” in the novel to “Italian cream cones” in the movie. 

When I think of French meringues, I think of crunchy and airy baked egg whites that I can’t imagine would survive holding ice cream. But, after some culinary sleuthing, I think the connection is made regarding the ice cream itself, particularly Italian meringue ice cream, which is the combination of Italian meringue and chilled whipped cream.

Clearly, the novel is 100% not for children, in this and other ways, but I think the adaptation of this moment in the movie is quite interesting, and perhaps may have struck French audiences a bit less shockingly.

2. Méliès’ hospital cart

When Jack visits Georges Méliès’ studio, he learns all about the illusionist’s lost love and the endless inventions he created to try to impress her. During the visit, Méliès explains, “One day, I was at a loose end so I chopped up two of her shelves and I fixed them to some wheels that I’d found on a cart from a hospital so that we could go gliding together in the moonlight.” I always find the delivery of that line to be rather comical; the way he brushes off the words “from a hospital” as if that won’t provoke any questions or concern.

But, readers of the novel know a bit more about who this mysterious fiancée of his was. Her name is Jehanne d’Ancy, and her presence in the original novel is actually quite important. Without saying too much about the alternate plot line of the book, she was a nurse that Méliès met at some point in his past, which very plainly explains the hospital cart.

During my research I was shocked and excited to discover that there may be even more to Méliès’ lost love. We all know that Georges Méliès was a real person, and it so happens that a French film actress by the name of Jehanne d’alcy [1] was the real Méliès’ second wife from 1925 until his death in 1938 [2]. That historical connection probably made me more excited than it should have, but there you go.

3. Brigitte Heim

If you were able to follow along with the wild and rapid lyrics of “King of the Ghost Train”, you may have picked up the line “When I went on the ghost train I met this old girl called ‘Brigitte Heim’...”. When I watched the movie for the first time, I didn’t even register that Jack said a name in that line and it never once dawned on me to turn on the closed captions to figure out what he said.

Of course, within the context of the lyrics of the song you can probably infer that the woman Jack met who “is scarier than the ghost train”, as the song goes, was the woman who literally emerged from a coffin when he first approached the fair attraction. I don’t think her name was ever mentioned directly outside of the song, except for the end credits, but the second time I watched the movie after having read the novel, I actually picked up on what he said in the song and it all made sense.

Also, the repeated theme in the song of paying for breakage or any other inconvenience as well as the lyric “Pay pay pay pay always pay” makes a bit more sense knowing how obsessed the Brigitte Heim in the novel was about profits, a character trait that wasn’t so heavily emphasized in the movie.

There are many, many more examples of the imagery, metaphors, and remarkable descriptions from the book making their way into the movie, but for the sake of keeping at least a few things for first-time readers and watchers to discover, I am not going to list them all out here.

I highly recommend, of course, that one reads the novel and watches the movie (and listens to the album, too) to get the full effect of the story and to truly appreciate the wild world of Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart.

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All images and quotes are from the film Jack and Cuckoo-Clock Heart and the original novel by Mathias Malzieu.

Image credits:

Italian ice cream cones: Malzieu, Mathias and Stéphane Berla, directors. Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart. 2013.

Brigitte Heim: https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-134061/photos/detail/?cmediafile=21072582

Sources:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehanne_D%27Alcy

Premièrement ne touche pas à tes aiguilles Deuxièmement ta colère tu devras maîtriser Et surtout ne jamais oublier quoi qu'il arrive, Ne jamais se laisser tomber amoureux

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Firstly, never touch the hands of your heart.

Second, keep your temper under control.