The Illusionist

PG

Released Dec 25, 2010

1h 30m

Drama

Animation

List

90%

136 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Magic tricks can't compete with rock 'n' roll in the 1950s, so a French illusionist (Jean-Claude Donda) finds himself touring Scotland's shabby pubs and run-down restaurants. But things brighten for him when he meets Alice (Eilidh Rankin), a girl who believes his powers are real. Together they travel to Edinburgh for a performance, but he doesn't have the heart to reveal that his feats are merely tricks, and risks financial ruin by giving her gifts supplied by his "magic."

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Jun 13

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Rent The Illusionist on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Critics Consensus

An engrossing love letter to fans of adult animation, The Illusionist offers a fine antidote to garish mainstream fare.

Read Critics Reviews

tim o

I'ma sucker for Chomet films: Wife & I agreed to get married after seeing The Triplets of Belleville. So we've got wall to wall history.😁 But somehow we'd never gotten around to seeing this one. Course it's a profound love letter to Tati - he's the centerpiece character of the flick! But this Jacque Tati/"Hulot" plays *fundamentally different* than any of Tati's comedic Msr Hulot films. This is a sad and thoughtful, and substantially backward looking and nostalgic view and film - as heavily contrasts with Tati's own frequent space-age/ultra-modern 'chaos' settings - in this case depicting sincere regret in Tati's personal family life choices. Moving, and left my wife & I both discussing the film, for quite awhile after watching.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Being a great admirer of Tati's work I was intrigued by the idea of an animated take on him. Not good! Tati's humor is focused on the basic funniness of regular people-- something inherently impossible to portray convincingly through animation. This man was a great mime artist, and no set of drawings can possibly capture the genius and angular grace of his physical movements. Further, Tati *celebrated* life, while this thing is sooo melancholy! This project seems very pointless, though to those unacquainted with Tati's films it might seem okay, sort of...

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

dane m

Like Les Triplettes de Belleville, the animation is mesmerizing. If you're watching on your TV you'll be freezing the action a lot just to take in the background. This time it's the critics who get it right. The public is too immature to appreciate the slowness and richness of this melancholy tale. Jacques Tati is the film. Sylvain Chomet is a genius in animation.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Lovely style of animation and a really heartfelt story.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Overlong film with many redundent scenes. Indeed, all the scenes are overcooked. The plot meanders painfully like a drunken dog. The music is boring. The characters are not engaging in the least. The vision of the world given is nostalgic and depressive. There are occasional stabs at humour but they all fail. The theme of the older magician and the younger girl is suspect but the flm lacks the wit to acknoledge this. The views of Edinburgh and Scotland are obvious touristic ones and it offers few insights into life in Scotland in the 50s. The only thing remarkable about this dud is that it should get such high star ratings.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Tim G

A little disappointing, I thought it would be more dream-like and whimsical...... beautiful animation though.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

07/31/20

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Sylvain Chomet

Director

Jean-Claude Donda

The Illusionist

Eilidh Rankin

Alice

Duncan MacNeil

Voice

Raymond Mearns

Voice

James T. Muir

Voice

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

100%

90%

The Summit of the Gods

98%

87%

The Song of Sparrows

29%

53%

Extraordinary Measures

68%

37%

Wild Grass

100%

93%

If Anything Happens I Love You

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Critics Consensus: True Grit Is Certified Fresh

View more photos

Keith Uhlich

Time Out

Does ample justice to the many layers of Jacques Tati’s tale, both in text and out.

Rated: 4/5

May 25, 2023

Full Review

Deb Jannerson

Bitch Media

While I've heard nothing yet about Chomet's next film, I can wholeheartedly say L'illusionniste had made my interest disappear.

Jan 7, 2021

Full Review

Nicolas Rapold

Film Comment Magazine

There's plenty of crack-a-smile humor, but the underlying mood recalls the diminuendo stretches in a Jacques Tati film.

Jul 1, 2013

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... a delicate and delightful piece of old-fashioned hand-drawn animation where character is in body language and personality in the "performance."

Aug 19, 2023

Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

There are some laughs in "The Illusionist," but a lot of it is melancholic and somewhat self-pitying.

Rated: C

Oct 4, 2022

Full Review

Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

It's not just the themes that resemble a Tati picture. Chomet and company go even further to make this feel like a movie that could slide right into Jacques Tati's catalog.

Rated: 4.5/5

Aug 22, 2022

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Magic tricks can't compete with rock 'n' roll in the 1950s, so a French illusionist (Jean-Claude Donda) finds himself touring Scotland's shabby pubs and run-down restaurants. But things brighten for him when he meets Alice (Eilidh Rankin), a girl who believes his powers are real. Together they travel to Edinburgh for a performance, but he doesn't have the heart to reveal that his feats are merely tricks, and risks financial ruin by giving her gifts supplied by his "magic."

Director: Sylvain Chomet
Screenwriter: Sylvain Chomet
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Django Film, France 3 Cinéma, Cine B
Rating: PG (Thematic Elements|Smoking)
Genre: Drama, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 14, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.2M
Runtime: 1h 30m

Most Popular at Home Now