In a sepia-toned landscape with a low horizon, like in a forgotten old photo, two figures on bicycles slowly draw near: a father and his daughter are going to go say farewell to each other in a distinctively Dutch setting, the father getting into a boat and slowly rowing away… Father and Daughter is a masterpiece of contemporary animation, as evidenced by the Oscar it won for best animated short film. It tells the story of a separation and the wait for a return, a wait that lasts a whole life. The passing of time is symbolised by the wheel of the bicycle on which the girl – who becomes a woman, a mother and then an old lady - goes back to the same place to scan the horizon. The wheel goes around like a clock, and also like a circle representing the unbreakable bond between father and daughter. The Dutch director Michaël Dudok de Wit plays with these simple geometric shapes – lines and circles – and also with emptiness and solids and an endless range of nuances made possible by the use of washes (a visual arts technique that involves diluting a colour to varying degrees get different gradations). This lends deep sensitivity to a story of enduring love between father and daughter. Even though it does not have any words or sounds, it is enhanced by a wonderful score featuring a piano and an accordion based on the ritornello principle, meaning a musical theme that returns just as the characters end up finding each other again. This is a magnificent film that, more than ever, parents and children should watch together so that they can share the emotions!
