If you possibly can, see the film in the origibal French, with Ebglish subtitles. Ubfortunately the dubbed version is most readily accessible, but the English language and delivery seem stilted. The film has been dubbed fron French to English, probably so younger Englisgh-speaking audiences can understand and enjoy it.

And, with all of that, there are lots of giggles. The film is pure empowerment for young girls and a chance for adults to visit with Marcel Proust, Sarah Bernhardt, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, August Rodin and Camille Claudel, and many other great artists and glitterati of Belle Epoch Patis. There is great sophistication behind Ocelot’s seeming naivete. Dilili In Paris is the latest from the award-winning director Michel Ocelot who in 1998 gave us Kirikou and the Sorceress. And, all the while, there’s the mystery of the Male Masters, whose political leanings and agenda are, we learn, threateningly right wing and anti-female. The film’s writer/director Michel Ocelot’s distinctive style of animation and exposition has a simplicity and fluidity that allows for a beautifully rendered tour of Paris’ well known tourist spots, as well as the introduction of the leading cultural figures of the day and a surprising roster of other cultural references. Dilili, whom the Male Masters target as a kidnapping subject, decides that she and her new friend will best them and restore city’s safety. She befriends a young Parisian courier who offers to show her the ways of French culture and the delights of the City of Lights, which has recently been under the shadow of a crime wave - robberies and abductions of young girls by the Male Masters, a mysterious band of thugs who can be identified by the rings they wear in their noses.

Dilili in Paris is a charming animated feature about a clever, curious, fearless and surprisingly sophisticated young girl of color who stowed away on a ship from New Caledonia to France, and is now working as a ‘native girl’ in a cultural display in Belle Epoch Paris.

Dilili a paris subtitles