Leitmotif

Film commentary: Leitmotif

A beautiful short film about the magic of music.

Questioning the film: Leitmotif

Understand the story, the theme, express your sensibility and exercise your critical thinking skills.

1 Who is the main character?
An old pianist.
2 What kind of music does he play?
Jazz. (more information with the activity: Discover Jazz).
3 What does he pick up at the beginning of the film?
A photograph of a group of musicians.
4 In this photograph, is the pianist the same age?
No, he is much younger, maybe 50?
5 Why is he sad?
He feels nostalgic when he looks at the photograph of his band.
6 What do the shadows on the right-hand wall (1:30) evoke?
It evokes the pianist's memories.He remembers the musicians in his band and imagines they are together.
7 Does this make him less of a crisis?
Yes, he smiles, but very quickly he becomes sad again.
8 The cuckoo clock and its mechanism give him an idea: whatis it?
He invents a system that will allow him to play all the instruments at the same time and thus to reassemble his band.
9 Do you know all the instruments?
Piano, trumpet, saxophone, double bass, drums, timpani.
10 Describe the tricks the pianist has found to be able to play all the instruments at the same time.
The pedal on the piano allows the bass drum to be played.
A watering can causes drops of water to fall on the timpani.
A record player turns forks and spoons and knives to play the double bass.
11 How does the cat react to the new orchestra?
The cat, who wants to be cuddled, is not happy that his master is no longer looking after him.He decides to leave, but without paying attention, he breaks the new orchestra.
12 How does the film end?
The pianist abandons his idea of a new orchestra and plays the piano, his band in his imagination but his cat on his lap.

Download PDF of the film's educational activities

Created with the support of the Ministry of Education and the CNC.
Family viewing of the film, educational activities with parents at home and with teachers in the classroom.
Creating a card game on emotions (Plastic arts) (Cycle 2 and 3)
Educational activities proposed by Valérie from the Val 10 blog based on the film Leitmotif.
Discovering jazz (Music education) (Cycle 2 and 3)
Educational activities proposedby Valérie from the Val 10 blogbased onthe film Leitmotif.

Discover other educational sheets created with the support of the French Ministry of Education and the CNC...