Can Fire and Water love each other? It’s a big “yes” answered by Peter Sohn for Elementary, new Pixar production presented successively at the Cannes and Annecy festivals. Flam (dubbed in French by Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Flack (to whom Vincent Lacoste lends his voice) will find it difficult to confess their tenderness to their respective families.
This romantic comedy (the first “rom com” from Pixar studios) is an ode to diversity, which shows how differences that one might think are insurmountable can turn out to be enriching for everyone involved. “It’s a bit like the story of my parents”, confides the director of Arlo’s Journey To 20 minutes. “It’s a bit like what happens in our studio where diversity is very important and where creation is a collective affair”, adds Pete Docteur, director of Up there, Vice-Versa And Drunk, became artistic director of Pixar.
Bringing the elements (fire, water, earth and air) to life was no mean feat for Peter Sohn’s team. “We had to make choices, he admits, and we made that of emphasizing the relationship between our characters rather than multiplying the action scenes. » The expressions of the heroes like their textures are sublime allowing to share the feelings of a sparkling flame and a hypersensitive drop of water.
“Above all, viewers, especially the youngest, must not be able to imagine the work involved in making our films,” says Peter Sohn. We prefer that they focus on the values of acceptance and tolerance that we want to convey. One does not preclude the other: it is elementary, my dear Peter Sohn.