The Illusionist trailer

December 25

The Illusionist (French: L'Illusionniste) is a 2010 animated film directed by Sylvain Chomet. The film is based on an unproduced script that the French mime, director and actor Jacques Tati had written in 1956. Controversy surrounds Tati's motivation for the script, which was written in collaboration with his long term writing partner Henri Marquet, between writing for the films Mon Oncle and Playtime.

The main character is an animated version of Tati animated by Laurent Kircher. The plot revolves around a struggling illusionist who visits an isolated community and meets a young lady who is convinced that he is a real magician. Originally intended by Tati to be set in Czechoslovakia Chomet relocated the movie to Scotland in the late 1950s. According to the director, "It's not a romance, it's more the relationship between a dad and a daughter."