''The Rabbi's Cat'' (french: Le chat du rabbin) is a 2011 French animated film directed by

Joann Sfar Joann Sfar (; born 28 August 1971) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, novelist, and film director. Life and career Sfar was born in Nice, the son of Lilou, a pop singer, who died when he was three, and André Sfar, a lawyer well know ...

and Antoine Delesvaux, based on volumes one, two and five of Sfar's comics series with the same title. It tells the story of a cat, who obtains the ability to speak after swallowing a parrot, and its owner who is a rabbi in 1920s Algeria. The voice cast includes

François Morel François Morel (14 March 1926 – 14 January 2018) was a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded t ...

Hafsia Herzi Hafsia Herzi (born 25 January 1987) is a French actress and film director. She is best known for her debut role in the award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature '' The Secret of the Grain'' for which she won the award for most promising actress at the ...

Maurice Bénichou Maurice Bénichou (23 January 1943 in Tlemcen, French Algeria – 14 June 2019) was a French actor. His best known roles include three collaborations with director Michael Haneke ('' Code inconnu'', ''Le Temps du Loup'', and '' Caché''), and a ...

Fellag Mohamed Fellag (born 31 March 1950 in Azeffoun, Tizi Ouzou) is an Algerian comedian, writer, humorist, and actor. In 1958, at the height of the Algerian war of independence, his father took him and his younger brother, for their safety, to stay w ...

François Damiens François Georges Henri Marie Ghislain Joseph Damiens (; born 17 January 1973) is a Belgian actor. Career He has appeared in more than fifty films since 2000. He started out doing hidden camera videos in the 90s and became widely popular in B ...

and

Jean-Pierre Kalfon Jean-Pierre Kalfon (born 30 October 1938) is a French actor and singer. Selected filmography External links * 1938 births Living people French male film actors French male television actors Male actors from Paris French male stage a ...

Plot

The story takes place in the Jewish community of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

during the 1920s. One day a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

finds that his talking parrot, who is very noisy, has been eaten by his cat and that the cat has gained the ability to speak in human tongues. However, the rabbi finds that the cat is very rude and arrogant, so the rabbi teaches him about the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

, with the cat deciding that — if he is Jewish — then he should receive a bar mitzvah, leading the two to consult with the rabbi's rabbi. The cat proceeds to mock and insult the rabbi's strict views, who declares that the cat should be killed for its heresy. The rabbi takes his cat and leaves, mad at the cat for making a fool of his master. The two eventually reach an agreement where the rabbi will teach the cat all about the Torah and that he might have his bar mitzvah when he is ready. The cat helps the rabbi pass a French language exam so that he might one day become head rabbi, but after the exam the cat loses his ability to speak (as he invoked the name of God to pray for his master). After the discovery of a Russian Jew who has stowed away in a shipment of religious texts, the cat learns he can speak Russian. He eventually regains his ability to speak French, finding he knows many languages and can act as a translator. The Russian reveals that he is a painter who has fled from

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. He has come to Africa to search for a hidden city of black Jews deep in the heart of Africa, and convinces the rabbi, his cat, and a former Russian soldier to help him in his search.

Cast

as the cat *

as the rabbi *

as Zlabya *

as Malka of the lions *

as sheik Mohammed Sfar * Sava Lolov as the Russian painter * Daniel Cohen as the rabbi's master *

as the Belgian reporter *

Wojciech Pszoniak Wojciech Zygmunt Pszoniak (2 May 1942 – 19 October 2020) was a Polish film and theatre actor. Biography and career Pszoniak was born in Lwów, Nazi occupied Poland, now in Ukraine. He gained international visibility following Andrzej Wajda's 19 ...

as Vastenov *

Pascal N'Zonzi Pascal N'Zonzi (born 1 January 1951) is a French actor and stage director. Filmography Theater Dubbing References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:N'Zonzi, Pascal 1951 births Living people French male film actors French male telev ...

as the first giant *

Marguerite Abouet Marguerite Abouet (born 1971) is an Ivorian writer of bandes dessinées, best known for her graphic novel series '' Aya''.Eric Elmosnino as professor Soliman * Alice Houri as Knidelette *

Mathieu Amalric Mathieu Amalric (; born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film ''Quantum of Solace'', in which he played the lead villain, Steven Spielberg's ''Munich (2005 film), ...

as the prince *

Olivier Broche Olivier Broche (born 18 December 1963) is a French actor and producer. He is best known for playing in the cult TV series '' Les Deschiens'' (1993–2002), in which he play alongside Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) i ...

as the parrot

Production

Autochenille Production was launched in 2007 by

, Antoine Delesvaux and Clément Oubrerie with the aim to make "author-driven, challenging films to appeal to children and adults." ''The Rabbi's Cat'' was the company's first project. The production was made in collaboration with

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

and

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

. It was pre-bought by

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

and CineCinéma and had a budget of 12.5 million euro. It is the second film directed by Sfar, after ''

Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque) ''Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life'' (original title: ''Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)'') is a 2010 French drama film written and directed by Joann Sfar. It is a biopic of French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Plot The film follows notorious musician Serge Gai ...

''. One of the directors' sources of inspiration was American animation from the 1930s and, in particular, from the

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

, which Sfar described as characterised by multi-ethnic production crews and for portraying dark aspects of society, in cartoons such as ''

Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer ...

'' and ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Enrico Macias Gaston Ghrenassia (born 11 December 1938), known by his stage name Enrico Macias, is an Algerian-French singer, songwriter and musician of Algerian Jewish descent. Early years Gaston Ghrenassia was born to a Sephardic Algerian Jewish family i ...

and the Amsterdam Klezmer Band.

Release

The film was released in France on 1 June 2011 through

UGC Distribution UGC is a cinema operator in France and Belgium, operating 57 cinemas as of 2022. It is also a major film production and distribution company. France & Belgium UGC was originally an exclusively French operator, created in 1971 from a merger of s ...

, which launched it in 243 prints. It competed at the 2011

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

, where it won the top award: the Annecy Crystal for best feature.

Critical response

''The Rabbi's Cat'' received positive reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has a rating of 94% based on 16 reviews and an average rating of 7.6/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 74 out of 100 based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Pierre Vavasseur of ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

'' gave a top rating of three stars and compared the impression it left to that of ''

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

'' by

Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi (; fa, مرجان ساتراپی ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis'' a ...

. Vavasseur called ''The Rabbi's Cat'' "a pure pleasure" and complimented it for its variation and colourfulness, as well as for how it tackles the subject of a divided society: "Offsprings of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

, Sfar and his cat don't stroke anyone with the hair, but throw as chefs together a broth of cultures with multiple flavours and with nurtured scenery."

Jacques Mandelbaum Jacques Mandelbaum (born 1 May 1958, in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French journalist and film critic, currently working for the newspaper ''Le Monde'' which he joined in 1995. He is the author of numerous works on the cinema including a biographical ...

wrote a negative review in ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'', where he, among other things, criticised the film for having dull gags, lifeless voice acting and a dragging pace: "This general disconcertment is due to the lack of determination in the point of view, which evidently wants to take in everything and fails to grasp the bad. Between

Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

and ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...

'', family chronicle and adventure film, biblical legend and colonial chronicle, historical reconstruction and winks to the contemporary world, the references are superimposed without achieving harmony. In the end, this plea for tolerance is a moral preaching so annoyingly gentle that it struggles to convince us of its legitimacy." Jordan Mintzer wrote in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'': "Though this gorgeously animated affair showcases the artist's freewheeling style and colorful arabesque imagery, its rambling episodic structure is not quite the cat's meow, even if it remains a thoroughly enjoyable take on Judaism in early 20th century North Africa. ... While the end result is somewhat chaotic, it proves that Sfar can make the jump from page to screen in ways that are both compelling and personal."

Awards and nominations

On 24 February 2012, ''The Rabbi’s Cat'' (''Le Chat du rabbin'') was named

Best Animated Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

César Award Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * C ...

s. On 3 December 2012, it was announced that the film received two nominations at the

40th Annie Awards The 40th Annual Annie Awards honoring the best in animation of 2012 were held on February 2, 2013 at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California. Production nominees Nominations announced on December 3, 2012 References External links Complete lis ...

, including Best Animated Feature. It won the

Prix Jacques Prévert du Scénario The Prix Jacques Prévert du Scénario is a French film award created in 2007 by the French Screenwriters Guild (''La Guilde Française des Scénaristes''), a trade association which represents more than 350 screenwriters working in the film, televi ...

for Best Adaptation in 2012.

References

External links

Official website

The film's section
at the official website of the comic books * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rabbi's Cat, The 2010s French animated films 2011 3D films 3D animated films 2011 animated films 2011 films Animated films about cats Animated films based on comics Annecy Cristal for a Feature Film winners Films about Jews and Judaism Films about religion Films based on French comics Films directed by Joann Sfar Films set in Algeria Films set in the 1920s French 3D films 2010s French-language films