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Switzerland, France · 2016
Rated PG-13 · 1h 6m
Director Claude Barras
Starring Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud, Michel Vuillermoz
Genre Animation, Drama, Family
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After his mother’s death, Zucchini is befriended by a kind police officer, Raymond, who accompanies him to his new foster home filled with other orphans his age. There, with the help of his newfound friends, Zucchini eventually learns to trust and love as he searches for a new family of his own.
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The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
What sets Courgette apart is the constant attention to how each incident and experience influences and builds character, which is how these children can slowly ease themselves into their future grown-up selves.
Slant Magazine by Christopher Gray
The film circumvents bleakness with a thoroughgoing commitment to understanding and intimacy.
Its child’s viewpoint and pastel-colored animation belies a cruel melancholy at the heart of My Life as a Courgette, as all its children lust for a life that is different from their own.
What one takes away from My Life As a Courgette might be a casually simple and forward affair, but a deeper, more considered look at Barras’ moving tale reveals an emotional resonance and non-saccharine uplift that is mostly rare in today’s animation world. Consider it a diamond in the rough.
The main reason to commit to this movie’s tough story of orphan loneliness is the screenplay by Céline Sciamma, herself a major French talent devoted to tales of youthful resilience. (Her 2014 film "Girlhood" is breathtaking.)
Screen International by Lisa Nesselson
A compact triumph of stop-motion animation in the service of a bittersweet tale, My Life As A Courgette (My Vie de Courgette) is as delightful as it is affecting.
The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo
The movie is a pleasure to look at, and often genuinely sweet, but it’s also akin to scaring the crap out of a little kid for 30 seconds and then smothering her with cotton candy for an hour. Skip the first part and you don’t need the second part, either.
On one hand, the cartoon is never afraid to be cute, but more importantly, it’s committed to being real.
Village Voice by Sherilyn Connelly
Though never sentimental, the picture is hopeful about breaking the cycle of violence.
My Life as a Zucchini is so warm, so alive, that we forget we're watching cartoon figures. And when they belong to us, they're no longer orphans.
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