Memoir of a Snail

Memoir of a Snail, written and directed by Adam Elliot, is a beautifully crafted claymation film following two orphaned children, a boy who dreams of “eating fire” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and a girl who collects snails (Sarah Snook). With Elliot’s signature dark humour and melancholy, the film explores themes of love, loss, and the quiet desires that shape our lives.

The film is a visual feast, each scene lovingly crafted using the stop-motion animation of handmade clay figures, giving the film a tactile authenticity. Far from idealised, the characters are real people in clay form - flawed, gaunt, and dishevelled, visibly carrying the weight of their emotions.

This is a testament to Elliot’s skill in capturing raw human experience, enhanced by the emotive voice acting of Jacki Weaver, Eric Bana, Nick Cave, and Magda Szubanski.

Limiting the colour palette to sepia tones with flashes of red grounds the whimsy of animation in the seriousness of its themes. Furthermore, Elena Katz-Chernin’s folky, melancholic score perfectly complements the film’s emotional ebb and flow, enhancing its bittersweet heart without overshadowing the story.

Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail is a poem in motion, where dialogue and imagery come together to deliver searing universal truths. The film is filled with memorable one-liners that carry deep emotional undertones, such as “childhood is life’s best season”, and “squashing my sorrows down into my shoes”.

The imagery is just as striking, from the paraplegic man who loves the Scenic Railway at Luna Park because it lets him “escape my body”, to the wild birds that are released, only to be confused by their newfound freedom.

In true Elliot fashion, the film blends dreamlike elements with gritty, earthy realism to create a shadowy gothic atmosphere. This grounding reinforces the film’s meditation on how dreams evolve as we grow, yet never lose their significance. 

As the film progresses, the characters’ bold dreams of running away to Paris give way to more intimate desires. Yet, rather than evoking loss, this evolution beautifully illustrates that the most universal and enduring dream is the simple joy of being with those we love – a poignant message, not diminished by its simplicity.

Elliot lovingly treats Melbourne as a key character in the film, using local landmarks like Luna Park, and morphing Paris’s Eiffel Tower into Melbourne’s Arts Centre spire. While cities like Paris and New York often dominate the silver screen, it was delightful to see Melbourne rendered with such care.

Although the film is rooted in Australian culture, with references to Chiko Rolls, clashes with authority, and religious satire, it’s far from being an insular piece of national cinema. Its universal themes of love, loss, and offbeat humour invite laughter without feeling exclusive to an Australian audience or rendering the story one-note.

Rather, Elliot holds up a mirror to our shared humanity, inviting audiences into the Australian style of humour, deftly balancing hope with the larrikin dryness, wit, and self-deprecation.

Memoir of a Snail is a triumph. Elliot’s creation feels both deeply personal and universally relatable, blending whimsy, humour, and melancholy into a touching narrative.

Ultimately, it’s a film about dreams; how they change as we navigate life but are never to be abandoned. A must-see for anyone who values intelligent, heartfelt cinema that’s served weird, wonderful, and darkly comedic. •

Ruby Lowenstein is a writer, critic, and producer with a BA (Hons) in Cinema and an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Melbourne. Since 2017, she has worked in the arts and media sector, driven by her passion for cinema, art, and literature.