The Seine’s Tears (2022)

The Seine’s Tears Review

The Seine’s Tears is a 2022 animated short film written and directed by Yanis Belaid. It’s a visually strong, but otherwise weak short.

It is 17th October of 1961 and Algerian workers take to the streets to protest against the mandatory curfew imposed by the police prefecture. I hadn’t personally known about this protest and how violent it turned out to be, but the problem here is that the short itself doesn’t quite acquaint you with this historical event. It is too much of a show, don’t tell approach, which made for little historical value and thin storytelling.

The Seine’s Tears features stellar animation that combines CGI with stop-motion superbly. The stop-motion is particularly strong as the character designs are excellent all-around. Another terrific element here is undoubtedly the score that imbues the film with a lot of cinematic and epic qualities with the third act being especially ambitious. It’s an audio-visual delight, but I just wish that the characterization and the script were stronger.

The Seine’s Tears is a solid animated short that does benefit from outstanding technicalities, but it was seriously offset by a lack of stronger narrative and characterization.

My Rating – 3.5