History WesternAnimation / TheTripletsOfBelleville

%%* ThreeDEffectsTwoDCartoon: Though the movie embodies the classic cell animation style, there are moments where one notices conspicuous CG.

* ConspicuousCG: Though the movie embodies the classic cell animation style, there are moments where one notices... well, conspicuous CG.

!''The Triplets of Belleville'' provides examples of the following tropes:

%% * [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Gratuitous Portuguese]]: Madame Souza's terrible song at the piano in the Triplets' house.

* FormerlyFat: Champion starts off as a chubby kid, sitting around the house with nothing to do, until Madame Souza discovers his love for bikes and gets him a tricycle. Years later, as he's been cycling for half of his life, he's now rail thin with massive, overly developed legs.

** The big-toothed winner of the Tour is a caricature of Jacques Anquetil, the first man to win the Tour de France five times.

* AbnormalLimbRotationRange: The maître d's back. To the point that his head is often ''upside down''.

* GainaxEnding: The film ends with a DistantEpilogue where a much older Champion watches the film's events on TV, hearing her grandmother asking the same question as she did in the beginning of the movie. The most likely explanation is that the film's events were a FlashBack.

%% * AwardBaitSong: "Belleville Rendez-vous"

%% * DreamSequence: From a dog, no less. Several in fact.

%% * FlippingTheBird: A random Belleville citizen does this after Bruno tried to eat his food.

%% * LeFilmArtistique: ''Oh'', yeah.

** The Triplets watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. There's also a poster for ''Film/MonsieurHulotsHoliday'' on their wall. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist'', based on an unfinished script by Tati.

** The Triplets watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist'', based on an unfinished script by Tati.
** A poster for ''WesternAnimation/GertieTheDinosaur'' can be seen hanging in the Triplets' apartment.

** The old ladies watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist'', based on an unfinished script by Tati.

* ChekhovsGun:
** [[spoiler:Madame Souza's shoe's extended heel]]. Actually, just about every element introduced in the first half of the movie is one. Including, of course, the eponymous triplets.

* ShoutOut:
** The old ladies watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist'', based on an unfinished script by Tati.

* ChekhovsGun:
** [[spoiler:Madame Souza's shoe's extended heel]]. Actually, just about every element introduced in the first half of the movie is one. Including, of course, the eponymous triplets.

* ShoutOut:
** The old ladies watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist'', based on an unfinished script by Tati.

* FastFoodNation: The titular city is a caricature of UsefulNotes/NewYork, where the citizens are almost exclusively grossly overweight people eating hamburgers and other junk food.

* NeverMissWithGranny: Madame Souza is a tiny, club-footed old woman who is persistent enough to follow an ocean liner across the entire Atlantic in a ''foot-pedalled boat'', at night, during a huge storm at sea, to the accompaniment of Mozart's "Mass in C Minor -- Kyrie". She kicks over a car too. The eponymous Triplets are no slouches either; for elderly vaudeville performers, they have surprising proficiency with explosives.

* NeverWithGranny: Madame Souza is a tiny, club-footed old woman who is persistent enough to follow an ocean liner across the entire Atlantic in a ''foot-pedalled boat'', at night, during a huge storm at sea, to the accompaniment of Mozart's "Mass in C Minor -- Kyrie". She kicks over a car too. The eponymous Triplets are no slouches either; for elderly vaudeville performers, they have surprising proficiency with explosives.

* DontMessWithGranny: Madame Souza is a tiny, club-footed old woman who is persistent enough to follow an ocean liner across the entire Atlantic in a ''foot-pedalled boat'', at night, during a huge storm at sea, to the accompaniment of Mozart's "Mass in C Minor -- Kyrie". She kicks over a car too. The eponymous Triplets are no slouches either; for elderly vaudeville performers, they have surprising proficiency with explosives.
** The Triplet in red also [[spoiler: knocks the bookie out cold with a headbutt]]

!!''The Triplets of Belleville'' provides examples of the following tropes:

%% * AdjustingYourGlasses: Very often with Madame Souza.

%% * ArtShift: After the opening 1930s-style TV broadcast.
%% * AspectRatioSwitch: Happens at the beginning.

* {{Badass Grand|pa}}ma: Madame Souza is a tiny, club-footed old woman who is persistent enough to follow an ocean liner across the entire Atlantic in a ''foot-pedalled boat'', at night, during a huge storm at sea, to the accompaniment of Mozart's "Mass in C Minor -- Kyrie". She kicks over a car too. The eponymous Triplets are no slouches either; for elderly vaudeville performers, they have surprising proficiency with explosives.
** The Triplet in red also [[spoiler: knocks the bookie out cold with a headbutt]]

%% * EyesAlwaysShut: The mafia Dons and the triplets. The maître d tries to do this, but fails at it.

%% * FlashForward: An elderly Champion at the end.

%% * GratuitousEnglish: "No money, no hamburgers!"

%% * MeaningfulName: Champion.

%% * ThereIsOnlyOneBed: The Triplets all sleep in one bed.

%% * TrainingFromHell: Souza is a quite tough trainer when giving Champion biking lessons.

** The old ladies watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist, based on an unfinished script by Tati.

%% * TheStinger: That guy that rents paddleboats.
* TakeThat: The scene which shows the run-down apartment house where the Triplettes have to live also shows for a few seconds a toilet clearly not flushed; [[spoiler: the feces form the famous Mickey Mouse head.]]

* AdjustingYourGlasses: Very often with Madame Souza.

* AnimalMotifs: A few of the characters, like the bikers, mechanic, and the Triplets of Belleville, have striking similarities to particular animals.

* ArtShift: After the opening 1930s-style TV broadcast.
* AspectRatioSwitch: Happens at the beginning.
* AwardBaitSong: "Belleville Rendez-vous"

* BigFriendlyDog: Bruno

* BookEnds: The only spoken dialogue that Madame Souza has in the movie.

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Madame Souza's shoe's extended heel]]. Actually, just about every element introduced in the first half of the movie is one. Including, of course, the eponymous triplets.

* CoolOldLady: Both Madame Souza and the Triplets.

** That said, [[AWorldHalfFull Belleville isn't all bad]]. Despite the grandiose lifestyle of many of its citizens, they are shown to be polite and sympathetic to others.

* DreamSequence: From a dog, no less. Several in fact.

* EmpathyPet: To an extent, Bruno.

* EyesAlwaysShut: The mafia Dons and the triplets. The maître d tries to do this, but fails at it.

* FlashForward: An elderly Champion at the end.
* FlippingTheBird: A random Belleville citizen does this after Bruno tried to eat his food.
* FreezeFrameBonus: No matter how many times you've watched this movie, there are things you might've missed because of the crazy details.

* GiantMook: The Mafia bodyguards are reminiscent of refrigerators.
* GratuitousEnglish: "No money, no hamburgers!"
* GratuitousItalian: The song heard in the barbershop, which is [[BilingualBonus fucking hilarious if you actually know Italian]].
* [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Gratuitous Portuguese]]: Madame Souza's terrible song at the piano in the Triplets' house.

* LeFilmArtistique: ''Oh'', yeah.

* MeaningfulName: Champion.

* NoodlePeople: The maître d'.

* PaperThinDisguise: Souza's disguising herself as the mechanic, with oven mitts for ears.
** Except that the mechanic is clearly shown wearing those oven mitts to protect his ears; the paper-thin disguise would really be the false mustache and buck teeth the triplets paste onto Madame Souza's upper lip.

* ShoutOut: The old ladies watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist, based on an unfinished script by Tati.

* TheStinger: That guy that rents paddleboats.

* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: The Triplets all sleep in one bed.

* TrainingFromHell: Souza is a quite tough trainer when giving Champion biking lessons.

** The guitar player in the opening number is clearly Creator/DjangoReinhardt, the tap dancer Creator/FredAstaire, the woman in the banana skirt [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker Josephine Baker]], and the conductor looks like a cross between Charles Trenet and [[Creator/TheMarxBrothers Harpo Marx]].