The Black Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess

Three separate tales. In one a Nubian prince sets out to take the Egyptian throne. In one a savage and a woman meet in medieval Auvergne. In one a princess in an eighteenth-century Ottoman palace sets a test for a man who grows roses. Narrators on a theatre stage tie the three together. The subject is not the fables but power changing hands differently in each story. A woman is at the centre of all three sections and in all three she is the one who decides; Michel Ocelot does this without underlining it, by building it into the structure. The form is the director's known manner: flat fields of colour, sharp silhouettes and architectural detail. The Egyptian tale leans on the language of temple relief; the Ottoman one is built on tilework and garden design. Each fable uses a separate visual language and the transitions are shown openly. The source is historical: pharaohs of Nubian origin did rule Egypt, and Ocelot chose that little-known period deliberately. Across his career he has been known for carrying non-European storytelling traditions into animation. Who it is for: viewers who like hand-drawn animation and collections of tales. Who it is not for: anyone expecting depth; the sections are short and the characters are not developed.