'Memoir of a Snail' slowly captures your heart

Australian animated film mixes child-like whimsy and grown-up melancholy.

Stop-motion animators must feel a kinship with snails. It can take literally thousands of hours to make a feature-length stop-motion film like “Memoir of a Snail,” painstakingly moving every character one frame at a time. No wonder it’s been 15 years since Australian writer-director Adam Elliot’s last film, “Mary and Max,” came out way back in 2009.

But good things come to those who wait, which may also be the message of Elliot’s movie. “Snail” is both a charming animated film full of whimsical touches, and an emotionally nuanced character study about overcoming trauma and depression. How these two elements merge so successfully in one film is something of a magic trick. I can’t wait for Elliot’s next film — in 2039, I guess?

Like the shells on her beloved snails, Grace is in a bit of a spiral. Haunted by a childhood of abuse and neglect, her parents gone, her self-image shattered, Grace is a lonely woman who steals and hoards snail tchotchkes that don’t come close to her life. As “Memoir of a Snail” opens, her only friend, a free-spirited elderly woman named Pinky, is on her deathbed.

Grace (voiced beautifully by Sarah Snook of “Succession”) narrates her life story to her beloved pet snail, Sylvie. It’s a story of hardship, of being bullied at school, of losing one parent and then another at a young age. But it’s also a story of love, as her twin brother, the pyromaniac Gilbert (Kodi Smith-McPhee) fiercely protects his sister, until the state sends them to different foster homes in different parts of the country.

(Photos courtesy of IFC Films)

Grace’s recounting of her life is anything but slow, as Elliot fills her life with quirky, interesting characters. Pinky (Jacki Weaver) bakes weed gingerbread cookies and tells stories of having sex with John Denver (on a helicopter no less). She’s a woman who embraces life while Grace remains fearful of it. Gilbert gets taken in by a weird cult-like family who worship the fruit that they pick from their orchard. Grace falls in love with a smarmy leafblower repairman who seems too good to be true. 

“Memoir of a Snail” is full of cheeky humor – there are several upraised middle fingers (and one severed one) over the course of the film. But the lightness is balanced by the melancholy of Grace’s story, of her slow turning away from a world that keeps bruising her.

I hope it’s not a spoiler to reveal that things do get better for her, and “Memoir of a Snail” is a delicate but moving tale about self-care and letting go of the past.  As Pinky tells Grace, “Childhood is like getting drunk. Nobody remembers what you did except you.”

Like Grace’s snails, we all carry a lot on our backs as we slowly shuffle through this world. Whatever we can do to lighten the load – or even better, lighten it for others – is a blessing.

“Memoir of a Snail” is now playing in theaters. In Madison, it is now playing at AMC Fitchburg 18.