The sequence lasts only about ten minutes in a film of one hour twenty-seven, but it is one of those cinematographic moments that are imprinted in the memories. In Hayao Miyazaki’s feature film, My neighbor Totoro, Released in Japan in 1988 and discovered in France eleven years later, the storm scene is a cult sequence in animated cinema. Images are also available on a whole lot of derivative products – mug, tote baghat or t-shirt –, where the big hairy and clawed plush imagined by the Japanese designer is displayed, holding an umbrella at the end of its paw under which she tries to protect herself from the rain like the two little girls with whom she does. co-stars in the film, little Mei and her big sister Satsuki.
Let us briefly recall the history of this hymn to nature and childhood that is My neighbor Totoro, fourth feature film and masterpiece by Hayao Miyazaki (whose last film, And you, how will you live? was released Friday, July 14 in Japan), hand-drawn with his studio Ghibli team. We are in the 1950s, the era of the youth of the filmmaker, born in 1941. Their hospitalized mother, two daughters and their father leave their Tokyo apartment to come and settle in a house in the countryside.
A new world for the two sisters, with its lush vegetation populated by unknown critters, guardians of the forest, invisible to adults, which they quickly integrate into their daydreams. Starting with the most imposing of these creatures, a half-cat, half-panda chimera, with tender eyes and a plump belly, discovered by Mei one day when she had lost her way in the woods and whom Satsuki met one evening. of rain as they wait for their father at a bus stop.
magic sequence
This is when the elements start to unleash. A dark night descends on the countryside, a violent wind shakes the trees, and torrents of water pour over the little girls. Then appears the man silhouette of Totoro, name given by Mei to her new friend. At his side, waiting for the bus tilts the film into fantasy.
The rain imprints its presence on the image, which is covered with fine white streaks, as on the soundtrack. With remarkable realistic precision, this one soaks up water: drops falling on Totoro’s nose, rubber boots splash in the puddles, rain showers on the umbrellas, so many noises that seem to delight the hairy hero whose delight rubs off on the little girls, comforted by this reassuring presence.
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