Brilliantly balancing melancholy and humour, Marcel the Shell explores topics such as the difficulties of love, ageing, and loneliness with a light touch that nonetheless resonates profoundly. Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate) lives with his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini) in an Airbnb house following the breakup of its owners, during the process of which Marcel and Connie’s entire family disappeared. Guest Dean, an aspiring documentary filmmaker with his own troubles (director Fleischer-Camp in a role reflective of his and Slate’s real life relationship), brings his new housemate to national attention in hopes of aiding Marcel’s efforts to find those he has lost. Tender and sweet without ever becoming cloying, Marcel is a pure delight.

Notes by Kevin Coyne

There will be an Open Captioned screening at 19.00 on Tuesday 21st. For tickets to the IFI Family screening on Sunday, February 26th, see here.