Director Jeremy Clapin Discusses Destiny in ‘I Lost My Body’
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The idea behind Jeremy Clapin’s French animated feature “I Lost My Body” was to tell a story of a hand trying to reunite with its body. With fate separating them, it’s up to destiny to reunite them.
“I Lost My Body’s” dialogue is kept at a minimum. Spectacular sound design and an electrifying score by Dan Levy create tension and drive the emotional dialogue as Clapin flips between past and present. At the center of it is a fly that weaves the story together and symbolizes destiny.
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Clapin says he used the fly as a storytelling tool to link the protagonist Naoufel’s past and present.
“When the film opens, it’s like a puzzle. You see a black screen and you only hear the fly,” he explains.
When the black screen fades, we see Naoufel from the point of view of something on the floor.
“The fly drives the story. It was important for me to build a strong momentum from the beginning,” Clapin says.
Throughout the story, the fly becomes another character, and we learn it’s the link to Naoufel’s destiny.
Clapin explains, “I used the fly to tell the story of his past. I told the story in black and white and color because I wanted the audience to identify where we are in time.”
As Naoufel goes through life without his hand, his hand continues to look for him. Through flashback, Clapin builds to the story of how Naoufel’s accident happened.
“By this point, we know the fly is important to the story; we just aren’t aware of the exact reason. Naoufel starts working and the fly is in the room. You see it interrupt his work and at that moment, his childhood and the fly are all connected,” he says.
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