Mon Ami Robot: Who is Sara Varon, the author of the original comic strip?
The director of the film Pablo Berger adapted Robot Dreams, his most famous graphic novel, for the cinema.
This week, a little gem of animation slipped between the big releases to make its way to our theaters: My Robot Friend. Directed by Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger (Blancanieves), the film is an adaptation of the graphic novel Robot Dreamswritten and illustrated by Sarah Varon. Published in 2007, this work is devoid of dialogue, an element of staging retained in the film. Adapted to a youth audience with its innocent drawings, the comic nevertheless deals with a complex and universal theme which will also affect adults, namely the loss of a friend.
Set entirely in a world of animals, we follow Dog, a lonely dog who decides to buy a DIY Robot to make a friend. Dog and Robot form a very strong bond until the tragedy. During a trip to the beach, Robot’s mechanisms jam and he is unable to get up. Destitute, Dog is forced to abandon him to his fate, only to return with a solution. But with the beach closed for the rest of the year, Dog will finally try to move on and Robot, still motionless on the sand, lets himself drift into the limbo of his dreams. Faithfully following the plot of the comic strip, the film Shepherd will nevertheless modify certain details or sequences, without ever betraying the spirit of the author.
My robot friend: The emotional fireworks of the end of 2023 (review)
Sarah Varon was born in Chicago and after graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago, then the School of Visual Arts in New York, she decided to become an illustrator. She has around fifteen works to her credit, collaborations such as President Squid And Thank you, Teacher! where she illustrates, and original projects like Sweaterweather, Chicken and Cat, New Shoes Or Robot Dreams that she writes and draws. Her graphic universe is populated by anthropomorphic animals, in a world very close to ours reflecting the New York in which she lives, with its traffic jams, its pollution and its strange inhabitants.
Multi-awarded for her work, Sarah Varon is an essential personality of children’s literature in the United States. My Robot Friend is the first film adapted from one of his graphic novels. The film is perhaps aimed more at older children, the comic strip being deliberately refined and dense in its narration to remain accessible to younger people. Pablo Berger was able to extend the reflection and the proposal of Sarah Varon while keeping this balance between enchantment and melancholy.
If you are still hesitant to go and discover My Robot Friendcurrently in cinemas, here is the trailer to convince you:
Pablo Berger: “With My Robot Friend, I lived a waking dream! »
