Chicken for Linda! (French: Linda veut du poulet!) is a French-Italian animated film, directed by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach and released in 2023.^[1]

Synopsis

Paulette is a widowed mother who feels guilty after unfairly punishing her daughter Linda for something the girl didn't do. She asks Linda what she can do to atone for her mistake, to which Linda replies that she wants a meal of chicken with peppers, representing one of her few remaining memories of her father before his death; thus, Paulette sets out, against the context of a general strike that has virtually shut down the city, to buy a chicken to make the dish even though she doesn't know how to cook.^[2]

Cast

• Melinée Leclerc as Linda
• Clotilde Hesme as Paulette, Linda's mother
• Lætitia Dosch as Astrid, Paulette's older sister
• Estéban as Serge, the rookie police officer
• Patrick Pineau as Jean-Michel, the truck driver
• Claudine Acs as Grandma, Jean-Michel's mother
• Scarlett Cholleton as Annette, the girl who lends Linda her new beret
• Alenza Dus as Carmen, Linda's best friend
• Anais Weller as Afia, a friend of Linda

Distribution

The film premiered in the ACID program at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.^[3] It was subsequently screened at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.^[4]

The film opened commercially in French theatres in October 2023,^[5] and was picked up for North American distribution by GKIDS.^[6]

Critical response

Fabien Lemercier of Cineuropa called the film "a very well-composed feature film which gives childhood its proper place as the creator of healthy disorder, because, as per the song at the end of the film, 'paradise is where you live, where you grow up, where you laugh, for all those lucky enough to be called your friends'."^[5]

Peter Debruge of Variety wrote that "Malta and Laudenbach have crafted an entertaining, kid-friendly toon whose power lies less in its plot than the surprising insights into human behavior revealed along the way. It’s all the more impressive that animation (as opposed to live action) succeeds in capturing the kind of gestures and details that should seem familiar to any child, from the distorted blur of street lights observed from the back seat to a lesson Linda’s aunt gives in shelling peas."^[1]

For Screen Daily, Wendy Ide wrote that "The film’s initial impact will, however, likely come from its distinctive visual style. Laudenbach’s character design is minimal, almost abstract at times. But a few cursory lines and a block of colour – each character has their own specific hue – can speak volumes when handled as deftly as they are here. There’s a pleasing textured quality to the drawing style; we can see the brushstrokes in Margaux Duseigneur’s handsome backdrops, giving a sense of movement, of vitality, even when the characters themselves are static."^[4]

Awards

References

External links

• Chicken for Linda! at IMDb