Line #39 WesternAnimation/TheRedTurtle


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_turtle.png]]
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3	''The Red Turtle'' (French: ''La Tortue Rouge'', Japanese: ''レッドタートルある島の物語''[[note]]''[[GratuitousEnglish Red Turtle]]: [[TheForeignSubtitle Aru Shima no Monogatari (The Tale of an Island)]]''[[/note]]) is a 2016 Franco-Japanese animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Dutch-British animator Michael Dudok de Wit. The project was produced in collaboration between Prima Linea Productions, Why Not Productions, Wild Bunch, [=CN4=] Productions, Arte France Cinéma, Belvision Corporation, and Creator/StudioGhibli, the latter of whom had fallen on hard times in the wake of Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's retirement[[note]]which turned out to be a TenMinuteRetirement, as he came back to Ghibli not long after this film[[/note]] and the box office failures of ''Anime/TheTaleOfThePrincessKaguya'' and ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'' and got involved with the film as a means of getting back on their feet. The film also features additional animation from Creator/AFilm, Dreamwall, and Kecskemétfilm Kft.
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5	[[SilenceIsGolden Devoid of dialogue]], the film tells the story of a man who becomes shipwrecked on a deserted island and meets a giant red turtle, whose life intertwines with his own in an unexpected way during his fight for survival.
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7	''The Red Turtle'' was the final Ghibli film produced by Creator/IsaoTakahata before his passing on April 5, 2018.
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10	!!This film provides examples of:
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12	* ActionPrologue: The film opens with the man wrestling for life or death in the middle of a storm. We never learn how he got there in the first place.
13	* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: The titular red turtle.
14	* BigSleep: At the end [[spoiler:the father closes his eyes and then passes away peacefully.]]
15	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The father lives and dies on that island, but at least he dies in his sleep, and in the company of the mother no less. This also counts for the mother as well, who mourns for her husband until she changes back into a sea turtle. Content with the life she lead with him, the red sea turtle returns to the ocean.]]
16	* BlackBeadEyes: The characters have black buttons for eyes.
17	* BorderPatrol: For unknown reasons the red turtle does not let the man escape from the island, destroying his rafts again and again.
18	* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler: The Son to his parents; when he reaches adulthood. He wishes them farewell as he joins the other sea turtles in an indefinite journey through the ocean]].
19	* CatharticScream: The man lets a big one out after the red turtle destroyed his raft once again.
20	* DaydreamSurprise: The father and later his son have visions which first seem like real experiences until weird things start to happen, soon after which the characters wake up.
21	* DeerInTheHeadlights: The father is stunned watching the tsunami wave rushing on and has to be carried along by the mother.
22	* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: At first, the red sea turtle seems beyond saving, no matter how hard the man tries to revive it. But one night, after she assumes the form of a woman, the former sea turtle wakes up.]]
23	* FingerTwitchingRevival: The first sign of the woman being alive in the turtle shell is her hand moving.
24	* FlashbackCut: After the woman [[TastesLikeFriendship fed the man some oyster flesh]], he has a quick flashback to the moment when he attacked the red turtle with a tree trunk. His facial expression tells us that he feels remorse [[note]] implying the woman is really the red sea turtle incarnated as a human being[[/note]].
25	* ForebodingFleeingFlock: The characters notice that something is wrong when the birds in the sky start to flock and fly off. Soon after the tsunami wave hits the shore.
26	* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: Averted for the actual tsunami wave which seems to be only twice as high as the characters. Played straight later in the boy's vision where he looks down from the top of the huge static wave to see his parents as tiny dots on the ground.
27	* GoodParents: [[spoiler: The Man and his wife - the now-human turtle - demonstrate nothing but affection, support, and care for their only son]].
28	* HalfwayPlotSwitch: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] with GenreShift. The first half of the movie is the Man struggling to survive on and escape the island with each of his attempts being ruined by the Red Turtle. The second half [[spoiler: is a fantasy-romance family drama where the Man and now-human Turtle become a couple and birth a son; chronicling their lives on the island]].
29	* InterspeciesRomance: [[spoiler: This is the film’s main premise when the titular Red Turtle transforms into a human woman]].
30	* JustInTime: The son comes in the very nick of time to save his dad from drowning in the aftermath of the tsunami.
31	* LogoJoke: The Studio Ghibli logo is displayed against a red background, as opposed to the usual cyan.
32	* MagicRealism: The only fantasy element from this movie is [[spoiler: the titular red turtle turning into a woman in the middle of the movie]]. This event is never questioned nor explained.
33	* MessageInABottle: Averted. The boy finds an empty bottle which seems to motivate him to go out into the world but this trope doesn't come into play.
34	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The Man is devastated upon realizing he [[spoiler: murdered the titular turtle]]. [[spoiler: Even after she resurrects as a human woman, he reflects on the act with shame]].
35	* NakedOnArrival: The woman when she appears in the turtle shell.
36	* NamelessNarrative: The characters are named The Father, The Mother and The Son.
37	* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: The film ends with the red turtle leaving the beach and swimming off into the distance.
38	* OneWomanWail: [[https://youtu.be/UM2TToB0lrs?t=959 "She Is Dead"]] from the soundtrack which plays first plays during the red-turtle-floating vision, then when the man and the woman get romantically involved for the first time and also at the end when the turtle leaves the beach.
39	* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: The man leaves his shirt at the shore so the woman would have something to dress after appearing NakedOnArrival.
40	* PluckyComicRelief: The crabs provide a comedic element in an otherwise serious film.
41	* {{Robinsonade}}: The first act of the movie focuses on the man and his survival on and escape attempts from the island he got stranded on.
42	* SanitySlippage: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] with DespairEventHorizon. As his days being stranded on the island prolong, the man undergoes a grief-driven version of this; experiencing hallucinations as well as laying on the ground to languish as he allows insects and flies to swarm him.
43	* SceneryCensor: Nudity was carefully avoided. The woman's bare breast are first covered under the turtle shell, then under water and later by her GodivaHair.
44	* TheScream: Having been fooled by a vision of orchestra players on the beach, the man sinks to the ground and the camera angle cuts away to high above him where his scream can be heard.
45	* SilenceIsGolden: The movie is free of dialogue, which helps in setting its contemplative tone.
46	* TastesLikeFriendship: The first action the woman undertakes when joining the man is showing him how to eat oysters.
47	* TimeSkip: Several, noticeable by the aging of the son.
48	* VomitIndiscretionShot: After one of his attempts to leave the island are thwarted by the turtle, The Man visibly upchucks on the beach from swallowing seawater. We see contents spill from his mouth and land in a pile.
49	* WaterWakeup: The man tries to revive the red turtle with a splash of water, [[spoiler:but it's too late]]. [[spoiler: [[DisneyDeath At first]]]].

Context WesternAnimation / TheRedTurtle