Bill Plympton’s first feature in five years is about love, which of course leads almost immediately to strife and loads of sexual humour. It’s a glorious energetic romp with oodles of Bill’s distinctive, freewheeling visual imagination on giddy display.
Lured into an amusement ride by a carnival barker, beauteous Ella is saved from a dire accidental fate by musclebound Jake, and next thing we know they’re 
married. Mattress-pounding connubial bliss, however, is derailed when a jealous female admirer hands Jake faked evidence of Ella’s infidelity. Sobbing in agony as he recklessly drives home, Jake promptly moves out and into a motel, and even more promptly commences shagging the astronomical number of women who throw themselves at him. More than a little piqued, Ella unsuccessfully hires a hitman to off her hubby in retaliation, then uses a magician’s “Trans-Soul Machine” to inhabit the bodies of the ladies he’s having revenge sex with.
Bill Plympton’s pulsing, pencil-etched, pastel-hued animation style is a pleasure to behold as ever, and Nicole Renaud’s score (featuring her own wordless vocals) has a traditional Gallic feel in line with the setting’s vaguely European air.
At Horse Hospital book tickets
76’00 2013
