OVID.tv Presents LOUISE BY THE SHORE Film Review — What A Little Solitude Can Do

An elderly woman in her Sunday best strolls down the darkened promenade of a quiet beachside town. No one else has been there for weeks, but her mind fills the street with a parade of happy, smiling people, elegant specters who pass by her with a smile and a wave and go off in the other direction into the quiet night. The woman does not wave back, but smiles and looks over the crowd as they pass. An imaginary vendor provides her with a snowcone, and as she enjoys it, she watches another pair play a graceful game of tennis, jumping and swinging at a nonexistent ball, swimming slowly through the air with each serve.

This imaginary spectacle in the animated film Louise by the Shore is but one of many visions and daydreams experienced by Louise, an elderly woman who is left behind in a seaside town in France after she misses the last train out. After a short-lived attempt to leave on foot, she resigns herself to staying in the town, certain that sooner or later the vacationers will be back to find her. Louise quickly grows accustomed to being by herself, building her own shack on the beach after finding her house in town too quiet and lonely.  She commits herself to a new routine that keeps her busy and entertained. 

OVID.tv’s LOUISE BY THE SHORE Presents a Slice of an Old Woman’s Normally Quiet Life

The film’s slow pace lets us drink in the scenery of the coastal town and the ambience of Louise’s isolation. Every building, shore, and wave is drawn and colored like it jumped right out of a storybook. The only sounds that fill the early portions of the film are the whispers of the crashing waves, the cries of seagulls, and the accompanying score of strings and pianos, composed by Pierre Kellner and Pascal Le Pennec. Louise herself only speaks through narration in the first half of the film, giving us her musings on her new situation and expectations of when someone will come to find her. She only communicates on screen when she has someone to talk to, an old dog she names Pepper. Even then, dialogue is sparing, allowing us to savor every shot and sound.

Louise’s solitude is interspersed and spiced up with a medley of visions that weave the scenes together. We move smoothly from an apparently normal scene to something quite the opposite.  What begins as Louise waking up to find a seagull that has found a way into her house becomes something much more captivating--- her nightstand strangely begins to drift away.   Louise finds herself floating on the ocean, watching the entire town seemingly be carried away on the waves. She doesn’t seem to be particularly bothered by her daydreams.  Instead she finds amusement and wonder in them, even as they begin to shift from strange hallucinations to vague recollections.

We experience flashbacks that, though still emphasizing the film’s scenery and enjoyment of bending reality in their visions, place more focus on telling Louise’s story. While very few details are directly stated, enough clues are left behind to give us an intriguing puzzle to solve on the circumstances of Louise’s past. Louise herself remembers little of her younger days.  She is uncovering the mystery alongside us, coming to terms with facets of herself in the process.

Louise by the Shore is a film that isn’t afraid to touch on darker themes. For those looking for an animated film with a little more substance, this deserves a watch.