Film Review--Azure et Asmar

Azur et Asmar
written and directed by Michel Ocelot


In this French animated fairy tale, a young boy falls prey to fantasy and dreams of rescuing the fabled Djinn fairy from her captivity. When he matures he struggles in his quest and eventually end up employing all the requisite magical elements to save her from bondage.

Azur is a blue-eyed, fair European boy whose mother has died mysteriously. As the film opens he lives with his friend Asmar and Asmar’s mother, Jénane. Asmar and his mother are darker skinned and come from the land on the other side of the raging sea. Azur’s father begins to train him in various skills including Latin and horse riding; ultimately he sends him away for schooling and kicks Asmar and Jénane out into the world. Azur grows into a man with one thing on his mind. He maintains that all he wants to do is rescue the Djinn fairy and subsequently leaves on that quest. He shipwrecks unto the island where Asmar’s people are from and quickly learns they are terrified of his blue eyes because they bring great catastrophe. He pretends to be blind and is accosted by a lumpy, frivolous and exceedingly jumpy man who agrees to guide him on his quest for the silken panties of the Djinn fairy.

The rivalry between Azur and Asmar is pronounced and goes back to their childhood where they would repeatedly get into arguments and fights over some triviality. When Azur is sent away for schooling Asmar and his mother are forced out into the streets by Azur’s father an entirely new dynamic is set into motion. Azur is deemed worthy with his light skin and blue eyes of a further education and the dark skinned, brown eyed Asmar must learn to survive in a wilderness of terror. Fortunately for Asmar fate smiles upon him and his mother becomes a notable and feared merchant with a colossal residence and many clients. He himself becomes a soldier in the Royal Guard and is well respected in his regiment.

Azur is fiercely determined driven by a phantom which strikes him hard as he makes his way through the tumultuous arena that nearly costs him his life on several occasions. He is nearly devoured by a massive lion but he has been provided with lion’s voice by Princess Chamsous Sabah and is subsequently able to communicate with the giant cat. Tamed, the lion takes him further into the mystery and he finds himself on the cusp of discovering his great love at last.

The tale is one of brotherhood and selflessness. Both Azur and Asmar display these characteristics with eagerness and fine temperament and of course both are ultimately rewarded for their virtues. It wouldn’t be a fairy tale (literally) without infinite success at the end of the quest. Still, it’s the journey that is featured here and throughout it’s truly magical in every sense of the word.

The color scheme alone makes the film worthy of great interest. It’s so incredibly vibrant and forcibly alive with a resonance rarely accomplished in animation. The characters are drawn fairly realistically but off just enough to give the film its hypnotic and surreal quality. What stands out is the boldness of the lines and the intensity they are able to effectively convey as the great journey is undertaken by both Asmar and Azur.


Overall, this film is a highly energetic, satisfying film about staying true to one’s peculiar vision even if it means tremendous risk that may not in the end be rewarded. It’s the fight, the film says, that matters and any reward is but a lucky side effect of it. Purity of form and ease of movement are essential ingredients in tackling any problem that might manifest itself throughout life and anything worth doing is potentially very costly to the one undertaking the quest. Azur and Asmar are both strong, vital presences who represent two sides of the psyche as well as two distinct approaches to finality and grace. They come from distinctly different worlds; one world is superstitious and wary of strangers, the other is more accommodating and less harsh in judgement at least in theory. It’s clearly a division between the “enlightened” West and the still backwards East. In many ways the film is a fantasy about the ability of each kind to work together to accomplish great things. Thus far this thinking hasn’t worked out altogether and the struggle for understanding continues.