History WesternAnimation / TheTripletsOfBelleville

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:The cyclist who drops out of the Tour de France first due to exhaustion also ends up being the first to pass out on the mafia's simulated bike race, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness which ends up getting him killed]]. Champion and the guy who passed out second manage to hold out till the end.]]
** Earlier in the movie, theres a newspaper article about a body being found. [[spoiler: The skeletal remains have a bullet in the head.]]

[[TimePassesMontage Twenty years later]], Champion [[TrainingFromHell has become a ferocious cyclist under his grandmother's stern training regimen]]. Bruno has gotten enormously fat (except for his legs) and lives to eat and bark at the trains that pass perilously close to their ramshackle house.

Champion enters the UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance, but is kidnapped partway through by mysterious [[TheMafia mob thugs]]. Madame Souza, with Bruno's help, follows them by truck, on foot, and by boat, winding up in the fanciful [[TheCity city of Belleville]].

Here, she encounters the eponymous [[CoolOldLady triplets]], aged former Vaudeville stars now living out their days fishing for frogs with hand grenades and playing trios on the [[EverythingIsAnInstrument newspaper, refrigerator, and vacuum cleaner]].

Together, the motley crew must use their quick wits and bizarre skills to outfox the mob and rescue Champion.

* {{Eagleland}}: Belleville is a satire of both America and Canada, but it's hard to miss the obese Statue of Liberty clutching a hamburger and the equally plump citizens. A tad hilarious; consider who ''gave'' Americans the Statue of Liberty, and the fact the French keep a smaller twin of her in Paris.

* {{Leitmotif}}: The Bach song played on television that inspires Madame Souza to cheer up a despondent Champion by teaching him to play the piano accompanies his misfortune again when the French Mafia starts kidnapping cyclists, and later, Madame Souza switches from playing "Belleville Rendez-vous" for the Triplets to the same song, likely implying that she explains her situation and troubles to them offscreen. A jazzy rendition of the same piece can be heard in the background at the French restaurant where the Triplets perform.

** When the film breaks, RTF switches over to a tape of a performance of Bach on solo piano. The pianist is immediately identifiable as Glenn Gould.

* BookEnds: The only spoken dialogue that Madame Souza has in the movie both opens and closes the picture.

* NoNameGiven: The Triplets are never individually named.
** However, the film's animation credits indicate their names are Rose, Blanche and Violette.

* NoodlePeople: Every cyclist is depicted as being rail thing and very tall.

** The Triplets watch ''Film/JourDeFete'' by Creator/JacquesTati on TV. There's also a poster for ''Film/MrHulotsHoliday'' on their wall. Director Sylvain Chomet would later direct ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist2010'', based on an unfinished script by Tati.

* SmokestackDrop: The BigBad is run off a bridge by an [[ItMakesSenseInContext orthopaedic shoe]] and falls straight in to the chimney stack of a passing cruise liner.

* TopHeavyGuy: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Champion and the other cyclists all have massive legs and gangly upper bodies.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Champion eventually tires out and gets off his bike while racing in the Tour de France, allowing the mafia to capture him, but it's implied the only reason this occurred was because his grandmother wasn't around to continue blowing her training whistle behind him, which had developed a Pavlovian link with his cycling skills over the course of his TrainingFromHell. Notably, he simply gets off his bike and walks into the back of the mobsters' van when he gives up (compared to the other two kidnapped racers who collapsed on the side of the road from exhaustion and were carried in against their will), and is later shown to [[spoiler: have the strength and stamina to easily move an entire stage carrying several people while cycling during the climax so long as Madame Souza is blowing her whistle.]]
* WunzaPlot: One is an old Portuguese-French woman with a obese dog searching for her grandson. The other are a group of old former vaudeville artists. Together, they will destroy the French mafia.

* TheDividual: The Triplets essentially function as a single character and are seen together for the majority of their screen time. They shortly separate only when one of them goes frog-fishing.

* TheDividual: The Triplets essentially function as a single character.

* ChaseScene: The film's climax -- a classic car chase, complete with [[LemmingCops pursuers gradually being killed off]], [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars exploding at the slightest provocation]], an UnderTheTruck InstantConvertible, an [[FruitCart imperiled baby carriage]], the RailroadTracksOfDoom ''and'' a TrainEscape... truly {{Troperiffic}}. The fact that several of these are played with and subverted (and the fact it's ended by a tiny old lady ''kicking over a speeding car'') saves it from ClicheStorm. It's also [[LowSpeedChase incredibly slow]] -- the heroes' escape vehicle is the bike simulator that moves at a visibly slow clip. The cars that give chase ''do'' catch up, but because the bike simulator is wide enough to take up most of the road, it is impossible to overtake it or even pull up next to it; the Mafia goons' options are limited to "pull up right behind it and shoot at the drivers".

** How does a little old lady [[spoiler:keep up with a massive ship in a cheap pedalo]]? She’s just spent years training, and keeping pace with, a professional cyclist.

** The opening sequence, "Belleville Rendez-vous", is [[ShowWithinAShow a film]] from TheRoaringTwenties, and features caricatures of classic stars such as Music/DjangoReinhardt and a topless Creator/JosephineBaker. The tap dancer who is eaten by his shoes is Creator/FredAstaire. The joyful conductor is a caricature of French singer Music/CharlesTrenet.

* PoliceAreUseless: Police? What police? If it weren't for that one short newspaper article released by the police of Belleville, one might believe that police does not exist in that city, or even that universe.

** Also the driver from the Tour de France disappears after arriving at the docks.

* PositiveDiscrimination: The elderly female protagonists are resourceful, creative and generous. All male characters are either villains or weak and passive people -- or turn into horny monkeys.

* {{Gonk}}: The most pleasant-looking characters (like Madame Souza and the Triplets) verge close to being UglyCute, while the least attractive ones dip deep within the UncannyValley and resemble grotesque caricatures more than they do actual humans.

* TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzags]] throughout the movie. The Mafia are [[LemmingCops pretty]] [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy incompetent]] but are genuinely menacing at times, such as when the bookie [[spoiler:shoots the cyclist]].

* TrashCanBand: The Triplets, in their old age, have become a ''professional'' trash can band, performing at what appears to be a pretty swanky restaurant using a newspaper, refrigerator trays, and a vacuum cleaner. Souza joins them playing on her son's bike wheel.

** The guitar player in the opening number is clearly Music/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]].

* [[NiceGirl Nice Lady]]: The Triplets themselves are eccentric but very pleasant people. They are extremely friendly, kind, and help Madame Souza save her grandson, Champion.

''Les Triplettes de Belleville'', a.k.a. ''The Triplets of Belleville'' or ''Belleville Rendez-vous'', is a 2003 French animated film by animator and writer Creator/SylvainChomet (''WesternAnimation/TheOldLadyAndThePigeons''). For all its quirky twists and turns, it ultimately becomes an introspective character study rather than simply a piece of popular entertainment. It's also tied together by some truly fantastic jazz and period-inspired music by Benoît Charest and features almost no dialogue.

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

''Les Triplettes de Belleville'', a.k.a. ''The Triplets of Belleville'' or ''Belleville Rendez-vous'', is a 2003 French animated film by animator and writer Creator/SylvainChomet. For all its quirky twists and turns, it ultimately becomes an introspective character study rather than simply a piece of popular entertainment. It's also tied together by some truly fantastic jazz and period-inspired music by Benoît Charest and features almost no dialogue.

[floatboxright:
Other films by Sylvain Chomet:
* WesternAnimation/TheOldLadyAndThePigeons
* WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist]

* AdjustingYourGlasses: Madame Souza adjust her glasses from the side as a CharacterTic.

* BlandNameProduct: One of the products sponsoring the Tour de France among others is called "La Valkyrie Fromage", which the winner takes a photo with its [[BrawnHilda mascots/models]]. And its logo is very reminiscent of the Laughing Cow Cheese (called "La Vache Qui Rit" in France), as it is the picture of a red-skinned Valkyrie, smiling.

* TheAllegedCar: The French version: the mobsters drive stretch versions of Citroën 2CVs, which are ridiculously underpowered cars to which a Volkswagen Beetle compares favourably. Fittingly enough, they're shown to be as underpowered and easily disabled as a stretch version of an actual 2CV would be, although they probably wouldn't be destroyed by a collision into a baby carriage or be able to be flipped over by a MiniatureSeniorCitizen with a club foot.

* FryingPanOfDoom: The Triplets and Mme. Souza get past the first guard at the mafia lair by whacking him on the head with a frying pan.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: Though the movie embodies the classic cell animation style, there are moments where one notices conspicuous CG, most often during scenes featuring bicycle races.

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

* AdjustingYourGlasses: Madame Souze adjust her glasses from the side as a CharacterTic.

* AspectRatioSwitch: Happens at the beginning, as the "Belleville Rendezvous" sequence was on a TV .

* BlackComedy: The film thrives on [[SurrealHorror sur]][[SurrealHumor real]] images and scenes that gleefully tap-dance across the [[SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror lines separating humor and horror]]. Exhibit A: The entirety of the 1930s-style TV broadcast opening.[[note]] It involves, among other things, Fred Astaire being eaten alive by his own shoes, the male audience members turning into monkeys to eat Josephine Baker's banana dress, and a three-story dancing baby. The rest of the film is more subdued, but not by ''that'' much.[[/note]]

* BringIt: When Madame Souza sees the mafia boss still chasing them, who had just undergone an UnderTheTruck InstantConvertible, she steps off the bike simulator and [[GoThroughMe stands in front of them]]. [[spoiler: She simply used her clubbed heel to kick them off the bridge]].
* ButtSticker:
** Two of the women in the opening scene each has her husband stuck on her butt and he is revealed to be flattened and the other one has her husband stuck between her butt cheeks, the latter of which may be ''dead'' from asphyxiation.
** The one with her husband between her buttcheeks is wearing a widow's veil. Make of that what you will.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: [[spoiler: Champion's legs are strong enough to pull the entire stage his bike is rigged to during the climax, and he shows no more exhaustion doing so than when his bike was in a fixed position.]]

** How does a little old lady [[spoiler: keep up with a massive ship in a cheap pedalo]]? She’s just spent years training, and keeping pace with, a professional cyclist.
** We see near the beginning that Madame Souza constantly blows on a whistle during Champion's training to make him keep a constant pace. [[spoiler: When she uses it during the climax it causes him to speed up enough to allow them to escape out of the building.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: The cyclist who drops out of the Tour de France first due to exhaustion also ends up being the first to pass out on the mafia's simulated bike race, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness which ends up getting him killed]]. Champion and the guy who passed out second manage to hold out till the end.]]

'''Champion:''' (''now an old man'') Yes, I think that's probably it. It's over, Grandma.

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Madame Souza's terrible song at the piano in the Triplets' house is sung in Portuguese.

* IWantMyMommy: Never actually said aloud, but the mafia dons mewl like babies [[spoiler: just before they're all blown up.]]

* MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon: Except for the songs and a few snatches of dialogue, most notably [[spoiler:the recurring line that [[BookEnds bookends]] the film]].

* MusclesAreMeaningful: The only parts of Champion's body that aren't twig thin are his overly-muscled calves. [[spoiler: During the climax, he's proven to have developed superhuman strength within them.]]

* NeverMessWithGranny: 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]]

* NonhumansLackAttributes: Averted, Bruno has very visible testicles as well as nipples.
* NoNameGiven: The Triplets are never individually named.

* TheQuietOne: Champion. While we hear him make noises a few times as a kid, he's totally silent as an adult. [[spoiler: The DistantEpilogue has him speak his one and only actual line as an old man.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The mafia goons know to clear out of the way when a grenade gets close, [[spoiler: even if it means abandoning their bosses to their fate]]. {{Subverted}}, in that they all come back for the finale, however.

** And the poster is a shout out to this artwork from the classic French SciFi about a team of racing cyclists: [[http://thenonist.com/images/uploads/mchnsmo10.full.jpg]]
** A subtle shoutout would be the song ''Atilla Marcel'', which is titled after a comic by Chomet.

* ShowWithinAShow: The opening short, "Belleville Rendez-vous," is an old-fashioned black-and-white scat song number [[spoiler:and, at the end, apparently the entire movie was a movie being watched by a much older Champion]].

* TakeThat: The scene which shows the run-down apartment house where the Triplets have to live also shows for a few seconds a toilet clearly not flushed; the feces form the famous Mickey Mouse head.
** When Souza and the Triplets are looking through the pictures in the mechanic's wallet, one is of him standing with a Disneyland-esque character and he's holding a lollipop that reads 'sucker'.

* TimeSkip: From Champion getting the bike to training for the tour. Then one in the middle of the movie as blink-and-you'll-miss-it winter passes in Belleville. [[spoiler: Then from plot resolution to the end.]]