‘Living Large’: Karlovy Vary Review

Dir: Kristina Dufkova. Czech Republic, Slovakia, France. 2024. 80 mins

There are few adolescents who don’t feel betrayed by their own bodies in some way or another once puberty hits. But for 12-year-old Ben (voiced in the English version by Tyler Gay) things are complicated by the fact that his love of food and talent for cooking has started to show in his waistline. He enters year seven as a confident, funny kid, only to discover that his plus-sized physique makes him a target for bullying and is an obstacle in winning the heart of Klara (Alexandra Hermans), the coolest girl in the class. Adapted from the childrens’ book La Vie, En Gros by award-winning French writer Mikaël Ollivier, the debut feature from Kristina Dufkova combines stop motion puppet animation and 2D segments to deliver a blunt but life-affirming message about being true to yourself.

Dufkova’s puppets are, like adolescence itself, angular and awkward

It’s a long-gestating project for Dufkova, whose 2008 graduation film A Tear Is Needed won Best Animated Film at Anifest 2009. She later published a book of the same name. Living Large screens in Karlovy Vary having won a Jury Prize in Annecy’s Contrechamp competition, and further festival screenings are likely. Having sold to multiple territories, the film’s blend of empathy, honesty and humour could earn it a receptive audience with older children, for whom the talking point subject matter of mental health issues, bullying and obesity may be relatable.

There is no shortage of films that deal with the chaos and upheaval that results when hormones crash the childhood party. It’s a theme that has provided a particularly rich seam of inspiration for animation, with Inside Out 2, Turning Red and Ruby Gilman, Teenage Kraken just a handful of the most recent examples. Living Large stands out, for its themes – obesity remains taboo in kids’ cinema – and its distinctive animation style. There’s a hint of the wide-eyed vulnerability of Claude Barras’s signature character designs, but there’s little of the cute appeal that characterised films such as My Life As A Courgette. Dufkova’s puppets are, like adolescence itself, angular and awkward, creatures that are still ill at ease in their skins.

Ben, who dresses in a cheerfully upbeat colour palette of optimistic primary colours, lives with his single mother, a vet who has turned their home into a rehabilitation clinic for sick animals. His divorced parents have an amicable relationship; they are united in their love for their son and in their growing concern for his well being. Worries are sparked after a check up with the school nurse identifies Ben as having Class 2 Obesity.

Ben, a talented cook who frequently makes delicious meals for his busy mother, is encouraged to embark on a restrictive diet. He does so but, thanks to the targeted bullying of the mean kids at school plus a growing crush on Klara, the idea of weight becomes inextricably linked and inversely proportional to his self-worth. When he inevitably crashes off the diet, his spirits plunge and he barricades himself away with just his depression and some biscuits for company.

But Ben is not as alone in the world as he initially thinks. He has good friends like Erik (Fionn Kinsella), with whom he has a band that performs food-based raps (it’s fair to say that the musical element is not the film’s strong point). And while Klara might not feel the same romantic interest that he does, she likes and admires him for who he is, not for who he might be when he drops a couple of kilos. It may not be the most unexpected of endings, but the message about loving and accepting yourself is one that, for many soon-to-be adolescents, bears repeating.