‘Your Face’: A masterclass in animation by Bill Plympton
In many ways, animation is one of the most liberating mediums in which artists can transgress multiple boundaries at once. Over the years, many talented pioneers have facilitated the evolution of the dynamic art form by constantly experimenting with the limits of animations. Your Face is one of those endlessly fascinating experiments.
Directed by Bill Plympton, the premise of Your Face is simple enough. It features a man singing about his lover’s beautiful face while sitting in a chair. However, the premise is the only normal thing about Plympton’s incomprehensible animated short. As the man sings, the biological realities of his body constantly get distorted.
During a conversation with Anifilm, Plympton called Your Face “the ultimate surrealist film” from his filmography. According to the auteur, the film wouldn’t have existed outside the animated medium because of the unique possibilities it offers. Your Face utilised the full potential of animation, becoming one of Plympton’s most memorable works.
The director said: “When I moved to animation, the first thing I did was Your Face, which was the ultimate surrealist film of mine. So, in my opinion, the trick to get the audience really into your films, is to use natural realism that later devolves or transforms into surrealism. It’s so cool and fun to watch. In that sense, animation is the only good way to do it.”
The song used in Your Face was made specifically for the short film, sung by Maureen McElheron. Although it’s a clichéd love song on paper, it was slowed down and transformed into something more unsettling. That’s exactly why McElheron’s vocals complement the disturbing visuals, as the animated singer’s face transforms into various shapes.
Plympton added: “With live action, you have one or two images, and you are limited by the actors not wanting to squish their faces, but with animation you have time, and you can honestly do whatever you want with your characters. So to me, it is a perfect art form for the surrealism I want to create, whilst still partially referring to real life.”
Your Face has been described as a mere formal exercise in animation by many critics, but it’s something more complex than that. Plympton conducts a deconstruction of the idea of a human being, constantly playing with the viewer’s expectation of what a face is supposed to look like. In many ways, it is a precursor for one of the greatest animated scenes of all time – the iconic “Freedom” sequence in Episode 26 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Plympton received an Oscar nomination for Your Face, but the legacy of the short extends far beyond the scope of the Academy Awards. Since he was influenced by the works of artists like Robert Crumb and Walt Disney, Your Face should be seen as a transgressive continuation of their visions – managing to reach a psychological space that is altogether uncanny.
Watch the film below.
