The Meaning of life for 9,99$

Adapted from short stories of a famous Israelite writer, Etgar Keret, the film calls out the spectator by its title: is it possible to know the true significance of life for such a small price? Actually, that catch line is the title of a ‘‘psychological’’ book that one of the characters buys to try to fight his lack of self-confidence. The search of one-self is the main preoccupation of all the characters which cross that both melancholic and satirical film.

The first specificity of the movie is the visual used medium: frame per frame animation in modeling clay. This choice can seem surprising to relate the chronicle of a building and its inhabitants. A young adult hesitates between his girlfriend and his mates; a teenager are looking for a job while his brother falls in love with an anti-hair model; an old man meets a losing angel…

The use of that technique allows to show different kinds of stories, even the more unrealistic or metaphorical one. However, we can be disappointed by the problem of realism of the characters, especially about faces: indeed, the resemblance is clearly requisite but not reached – the mouths are particularly failed. Contrary to Wallace & Gromit, made by the same process, here that lack of realism can prevent identification of the audience with the characters.
In a narrative way, the idea of the building gathering the different stories and characters makes a good and effective link between Keret’s independent short stories. Finally, the film gives an impression of poetry and tenderness towards these Hebrew funny figures.

The Meaning of life for 9,99$, by Tatia Rosenthal, 2009.

Philosophy in modeling clay

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