You possibly can say that Marcel Pagnol’s films are outlined by the faces he forged, none extra distinctive than that of Raimu, a music-hall legend turned big-screen star whom Orson Welles known as “the best actor on the planet.” Because it occurs, “The Triplets of Belleville” director Sylvain Chomet’s movies are additionally marked by faces, which the French animator sketches by hand in a loving however labor-intensive course of that displays the earlier century each bit as a lot as Pagnol’s best-loved novels (“Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring”) and performs (“Marius,” “Fanny” and “César,” all three of which he tailored to display screen).

What a phenomenal marriage of artist and creator “A Magnificent Life” ought to be, proper? That’s solely partly true, alas. Drawing from Pagnol’s career-encapsulating essay assortment, “Confidences,” Chomet honors the person’s achievements — the way in which a dry textbook or pedagogic graphic novel would possibly — however fails to convey why those that don’t already possess some stage of fascination with Pagnol ought to care. Premiering on the Cannes Movie Pageant, the film sports activities the identical full of life visible type as Chomet’s earlier work, which is by far its highest quality (Stefano Bollani’s enchanting rating is one other of its strengths).

Much less profitable is the movie’s script and the voice actors who learn it in each French and English variations. The best way Chomet operates, the movie’s persona comes throughout through the detailed and extremely expressive faces, not the dialogue or its supply. If the aim was to ignite an curiosity in Pagnol’s life and work — to ship audiences speeding to the Criterion Channel or a bookstore to brush up on his oeuvre — then it dangers having the other impact, presenting Pagnol as that funny-looking man who made the leap from stage to display screen at exactly the second talkies have been taking off in France.

However Chomet presumes you already know why that issues (a pioneer of the seventh artwork, Pagnol constructed his personal studio and insisted that his characters communicate in an genuine southern accent). Written with the participation of Pagnol’s grandson Nicolas, “A Magnificent Life” serves up a group of anecdotes from the legendary creator’s bucolic early years in Marseille to the demise of his daughter at an unreasonably younger age, with out establishing what the person is struggling in opposition to — or aiming towards.

As Pagnol himself put it, “Such is the lifetime of a person. Moments of pleasure, oliberated by unforgettable unhappiness. There’s no want to inform the youngsters that.” Subtract Chomet’s unmatched talent in conveying layers of comedy and melancholy that even the photographic digicam can’t seize, and it’ll take extra pizazz to curiosity audiences in his theatrical profession — which is the place the movie begins, with a flop on the Paris stage (“Fabien”). Just a few scenes later, Pagnol is being complimented by an editor from Elle journal, who guarantees to publish his memoirs … if solely he can write them.

Confronted with the clean web page, Pagnol appears to have hassle recalling his youth, till a boy named “Marcel” seems in his workplace. The film’s French title, “Marcel and Monsieur Pagnol,” playfully identifies these two as separate characters. It’s a wierd gadget, utilizing the creator’s youthful self to pry significant anecdotes from the recesses of his coronary heart, particularly for the reason that boy comes and goes at will from significant moments in Pagnol’s previous.

Contemplating that different characters can see him, younger Marcel is presumably greater than only a projection of the scribbler’s unconscious. For audiences, he’s form of a pest, making a racket and in any other case distracting from a comparatively easy life story. The boy’s presence suggests an try on Chomet’s half to draw a youthful viewers, although it’s somewhat exhausting to think about them discovering both Marcel’s or Monsieur Pagnol’s exploits all that amusing.

In any case, we’re a good distance from “The Illusionist,” Chomet’s homage to a different French legend, Jacques Tati. “A Magnificent Life” appears extra dedicated to educating than entertaining, although it’s alternative of particulars could be perplexing at occasions. An extract from a play, during which two male actors disguised as outdated girls touch upon each other’s sagging bosoms, elicited the unsuitable form of laughter from faculty kids at Cannes — so possibly children usually are not the best viewers. One of many actors in that scene is the all-important Raimu, whose stage profession Pagnol helps to launch with a revolutionary resolution.

As an alternative of writing performs in “correct” French — as was the norm in respectable Parisian theaters — Pagnol determined to channel the colourful accents of his native Marseille. Within the French model of the movie, grownup Pagnol is voiced by in-demand actor Laurent Lafitte with no hint of a regional accent, whereas younger Marcel appears like he comes from the south. However how precisely do you translate this nuance for English-speaking audiences?

When Paramount tasked Bob Kane with producing movies in French and different languages, the exec approached Pagnol about adapting his performs for the display screen — an concept that appealed to the playwright, who foresaw the recognition of cinema and embraced the way in which this rising medium allowed him to intensify comedy and drama otherwise (bringing audiences nearer to these great faces, as an illustration).

Pagnol insisted that he shoot “Marius” with genuine Marseille accents. French ears ought to recognize not simply the musical high quality of voices like Raimu’s, however the impossible-to-translate idioms Pagnol wove all through his dialogue (although it seems like a mistake to have forged Lafitte within the lead function). The English-language dub, whereas completely charming in its personal proper, can’t probably do justice to this signature dimension of Pagnol’s work.

That leaves audiences to observe the anecdotal story of Pagnol’s setbacks and successes: the fortunate evening he wagered all his cash whereas his play was being carried out subsequent door, a pitch assembly the place Paramount short-sightedly handed on a sequel to “Marcel,” the goat he rented to look on display screen … and subsequently adopted to spare it being butchered. These enjoyable info don’t spark laughs in context, however would possibly amuse when audiences repeat what they’ve realized to others down the highway.

What the film lacks is a transparent sense of battle — the form of drama at which its topic excelled. Magnificent as Pagnol’s achievements could have been, it’s a pity that the decades-spanning account of one in every of France’s best storytellers didn’t make for a greater story unto itself.