This is a very odd little duck (even for Aardmann Studios) and is very well executed. It reminds me a bit of Beetlejuice and of Tim Burton's short Vincent. It features a very single-minded and quite determined lady who will stop for no reason-even death-in her desire to remain proper in all things. Well worth seeing, it's on a compilation of shorts from Aardmann called Creature Comforts. Recommended.
7 Reviews
one of the weirdest short's from Aardman
dsl300121 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is a short film on the creature comforts DVD and it is very weird.This was my cousin's favorite show on the creature comforts DVD.Only He didn't seem to like creature comfort's too much he said it was boring.I can't believe he said that well never mind. Though the main plot of this short is an overstressed Aunt doesn't keep her payment on her washing machine and her punishment is being sent straight to Hell. This certainly was not the best show on the creature comforts DVD. I think the best one was creature comforts do you want to know why it is because it is a little more funny and I like the characters more.still if you like scary and weird movies than this is a must see for you.
Amusing points to the wit Aardmann would later become famous for
bob the moo10 May 2003
Having failed to keep up with her repayments on her washing machine, a little girl's aunt is dragged down to Hell (as specified in her contract). Six months later the aunt realises that she is going somewhere without her handbag and breaks free of Satan to return to earth to get it. Back on earth her niece is surprised to see her but must immediately help as Satan returns to reclaim what is his.
Opening well with drama and atmosphere this short loses it a little bit but serves as a pointer of the wit that would later be used to good effect in award winning shorts and feature length animations. The short's basic premise is very good but doesn't have quite enough meat on it to be brilliant the manner of the `battle' with Satan is a little disappointing \and not what I expected.
The animation is very good and has a mix of styles without losing the feel that we have grown to expect from Aardmann studios. The wit is present as well, although it doesn't run through every part of the film as they have done recently. Most of the funniest lines come from the newsreader on the television in the background in fact it is worth watching for his input!
Overall this film doesn't totally deliver the goods in the way Aardmann have been doing over the past 6 years or so. However it does have much to watch for and it is interesting to see the seeds that they were planting then were just being to develop in shorts like this and Creature Comforts have grown and matured as they have gone on.
Opening well with drama and atmosphere this short loses it a little bit but serves as a pointer of the wit that would later be used to good effect in award winning shorts and feature length animations. The short's basic premise is very good but doesn't have quite enough meat on it to be brilliant the manner of the `battle' with Satan is a little disappointing \and not what I expected.
The animation is very good and has a mix of styles without losing the feel that we have grown to expect from Aardmann studios. The wit is present as well, although it doesn't run through every part of the film as they have done recently. Most of the funniest lines come from the newsreader on the television in the background in fact it is worth watching for his input!
Overall this film doesn't totally deliver the goods in the way Aardmann have been doing over the past 6 years or so. However it does have much to watch for and it is interesting to see the seeds that they were planting then were just being to develop in shorts like this and Creature Comforts have grown and matured as they have gone on.
Very interesting
heywood10010 May 2003
Quite brilliant animation about a woman who gets sent to hell for not keeping up the payments on her washing machine. Her skeleton then pops back out of the grave in order to collect her precious handbag. Then the devil comes back to reclaim her soul. Then it gets weird.
The animation is superb, and the whole film looks a little bit like that old favourite TV show Trapdoor. It's packed full of odd little details like the words on the contract or the newsreader on the television or the fact that the little girl is practically bald. The characters look fantastic, particularly the French style devil and the whole film is immensely enjoyable. And it ends with a scene very much like Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life, with the "waffer thin mint" becoming a chocolate eclair.
The animation is superb, and the whole film looks a little bit like that old favourite TV show Trapdoor. It's packed full of odd little details like the words on the contract or the newsreader on the television or the fact that the little girl is practically bald. The characters look fantastic, particularly the French style devil and the whole film is immensely enjoyable. And it ends with a scene very much like Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life, with the "waffer thin mint" becoming a chocolate eclair.
Excellent Aardman short.
TOMNEL20 August 2006
This was an NBC released 12 minute short. It deals with a loving Auntie who forgets to keep up the payment on her washing machine, and as punishment is sent straight to Hell. Her little niece just watches. 5 months later she has almost made it to Hell, but has forgotten her handbag so she returns to get it. Meanwhile the devil disguises himself as her handbag. It's a wonderfully animated, and very twisted short. It reminds me of something that Tim Burton would do. The ending of it worked really well and it was actually quite emotional. The music was also fantastic and fit really well. I highly recommend you buy it on the Creature Comforts DVD.
12 mins. Not Rated, contains violence and some mild language.
12 mins. Not Rated, contains violence and some mild language.
Barmy and wonderfully English reinterpretation of 'Faust'
the red duchess16 July 2001
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Imagine the Faust legend rewritten by Roald Dahl and filmed in the style of 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'. The story features a shy, taciturn little Girl who lives in a huge, bare, crooked house on top of a hill, with her louche, world-weary Aunt. The latter is behind on the payments for her rather rickety washing machine; the penalty is repossession, in this case of her soul, the dealer having been one Beelzebub, a wonderfully wiry, horned, flaming red, insect-like creature. There is no negotiating with him, and Auntie finds herself descending the various circles to Hell.
Her niece is shocked at first, but eventually realises that nothing much has changed, buries her, and settles down to the life of a couch potato. As she plummets, Auntie realises that she has forgotten to bring her handbag, a major social faux pas, giving the devil the slip to retrieve it. Unfortunately, she has been dead for six months, and so looks like a zombie. With the same resignation with which she accepted her Auntie's death, the girl welcomes her back, and both try to outwit Lucifer, who has turned himself into the desired handbag in order to trick Auntie back. The anti-Satanist offensive involves a shopful of pastries and an allusion to Monty Python's Mr. Creosote.
this delightful cartoon is notable especially for its beautiful animation, the deadpan, expressionless, very English characters living in extraordinarily distorted domesticity, an ice-blue, spacious, angular mansion, defying the laws of physics and architecture. This physical imbalance is matched by the recurrent references to 'Vertigo', the rhubarb and custard spiral that opens the film to Herrmann's famous soundtrack later revealed to be the devil's portal to hell. This distortion of place, and the allusions to a film about mental breakdown lead the viewer astray, leading us to expect, at the least, a perverse rites-of-passage story, or a horror study about the home attacked by malevolent forces.
But, in a film of such supernatural activity, the characters remain defiantly normal, English. This doesn't make the weird banal, as so many Aardman cartoons do - it creates an effective clash that reminds us of Breton's assertion that Surrealism never took off in England because the English mania for normality was congenitally Surreal anyway. This delicious effect is heightened by the voicing of the Aunt by Geraldine McEwan, cherished for her performance as Emmeline Lucas, the Lucia in 'Mapp and...', where she made the reassuringly familiar - the nostalgic heritage film - absolutely berserk. The method here is the reverse, but the message is the same - the English (including my spouse) are unflappably mad!
Her niece is shocked at first, but eventually realises that nothing much has changed, buries her, and settles down to the life of a couch potato. As she plummets, Auntie realises that she has forgotten to bring her handbag, a major social faux pas, giving the devil the slip to retrieve it. Unfortunately, she has been dead for six months, and so looks like a zombie. With the same resignation with which she accepted her Auntie's death, the girl welcomes her back, and both try to outwit Lucifer, who has turned himself into the desired handbag in order to trick Auntie back. The anti-Satanist offensive involves a shopful of pastries and an allusion to Monty Python's Mr. Creosote.
this delightful cartoon is notable especially for its beautiful animation, the deadpan, expressionless, very English characters living in extraordinarily distorted domesticity, an ice-blue, spacious, angular mansion, defying the laws of physics and architecture. This physical imbalance is matched by the recurrent references to 'Vertigo', the rhubarb and custard spiral that opens the film to Herrmann's famous soundtrack later revealed to be the devil's portal to hell. This distortion of place, and the allusions to a film about mental breakdown lead the viewer astray, leading us to expect, at the least, a perverse rites-of-passage story, or a horror study about the home attacked by malevolent forces.
But, in a film of such supernatural activity, the characters remain defiantly normal, English. This doesn't make the weird banal, as so many Aardman cartoons do - it creates an effective clash that reminds us of Breton's assertion that Surrealism never took off in England because the English mania for normality was congenitally Surreal anyway. This delicious effect is heightened by the voicing of the Aunt by Geraldine McEwan, cherished for her performance as Emmeline Lucas, the Lucia in 'Mapp and...', where she made the reassuringly familiar - the nostalgic heritage film - absolutely berserk. The method here is the reverse, but the message is the same - the English (including my spouse) are unflappably mad!
It's hell not being able to keep up with appliance payments.
TxMike19 November 2005
This 12-minute film short is one of 4 different shorts on one VHS tape by Aardman Animations, the group that has given us the Wallace and Gromit animations.
In "Not Without My Handbag" we see an older lady that didn't quite read all the fine print in her purchase contract for a washer. The clause that escaped her was that missing a payment would send you straight to hell! But she subsequently has to return because she didn't have her handbag, and even she wouldn't stay in hell without a proper handbag.
I suppose being British would help appreciate this film short. While I enjoyed it, I am sure much of the intended humor was missed on me.
In "Not Without My Handbag" we see an older lady that didn't quite read all the fine print in her purchase contract for a washer. The clause that escaped her was that missing a payment would send you straight to hell! But she subsequently has to return because she didn't have her handbag, and even she wouldn't stay in hell without a proper handbag.
I suppose being British would help appreciate this film short. While I enjoyed it, I am sure much of the intended humor was missed on me.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
