The story is based on Guy de Maupassant’s novella of the same name. The soundtrack is largely the same text. The film is a mixture of live action and animation filmed in various techniques. In many scenes images coalesce into tableaus. Each subject is given apparent levels of meaning, which in turn stand beside and on top of one another on equal footing. The meaninglessness of that which seems so certain such as gender or age is exposed with great relish. The individual threads run parallel, only touching occasionally but nevertheless influencing the overall image. Boule de suif is ultimately sold down the river. The visual language in its complexity is reminiscent of commercial television, particularly of infomercials with their continuous fade-ins and over-blendings. The shifts in meaning inevitably evoke contradictions that at times seem bizarre. Everything combines to form a fantastic panorama of shapes and colors that goes far beyond any narrative and in large parts venerates the pure form.