Memoir Of A Snail: Review

21st November 2024

Memoir Of A Snail: Review. By Ayrton-Lewis Avery.

Memoir of a Snail, directed by Adam Elliot, has shown us a mastery of stop-motion claymation. Indeed, clay is the focal point and the principal motif of this film. Like clay, a child’s life is moulded from innocence into lucid awareness of the harshness of reality. This happens in a single moment. We see two snails having sex. Their supple bodies combine, and are merged into a single being, like two pieces of clay being cooked into one item.

Clay comes from the ground. Thus, this movie is very grounded. But clay is also so ephemeral. Like memories. Memoir of a Snail is about memories of an Australia long past, a religious nation founded by conservative values. There is a strange amount of nostalgia, but it hurdles long past that vision. Instead, we are given a cast of very modern characters, including the twins Grace and Gilbert (voiced by Sarah Snook and Kodi Smit-McPhee). However, the filmmaker is also strangely critical of the looming power of the government. It is so unjust how the two siblings are separated at the beginning, and one is sent to harsh labour at a farm, and the other one is sent to a loving family. Everything in this clay world is so illogical, yet so convincing.

Of course, snails are the other motif. When the two siblings part, Gilbert gives Grace a memento: the sculpture of a snail. Why choose a snail? Is it a sign of weakness and insecurity? After all, Grace struggles with obsessive hoarding, depression, suicidal behavior, and she enters a relationship with the first man she meets. Really, it is only after the snails burn that she and Gilbert can move on with their lives. Perhaps they are a reminder of her childhood, when she was raised by an alcoholic and scantily available father. It is quite interesting how something like a snail can become such a dark and tragic symbol.

The film’s message is this: art is the great healer. Collecting snails kept her sane for a while, but it is not a true act of creation. Later, Grace becomes a stop-motion animation. Of course, in this world of clay, she screens a claymation film. Once again, clay is the unifying aspect: it allows her to finally reconnect (miraculously) with her long-lost brother, overcome all her trauma and give closure to the life of her father. Clay is contrasted with the hard shell of the snail: it is soft, comforting, and malleable, just like most humans are.

It should not be surprising that the film takes place on two opposite ends of Australia: Perth and Canberra. Thematically, it also deals with an entire nation. Its characters are conservative, liberal, passionate, abusive, depressive, and enlightening. It deals with homophobia, sexual fetishism, and religious conservatism. But most of all, it is surprising how Elliot has managed to make a narrative of dark tragicomedy out of human shortcoming and resilience. This is a very intriguing movie which combines opposites, resolves contradictions, and draws from a very extensive knowledge of the human condition.

Score: 8/10

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