Premise - Ethel and Ernest - Film review

 Ethel and Ernest is a 2016 British Animated film made by Raymond Briggs who is well known for the Snowman, a classic British animation.

Core Premise:

The story of Ethel and Ernest is about Briggs' parents and their relationship from start to finish and their struggle through World War 2. Ethel is from a working class family, although she likes to think she's not, working for a wealthy family as a maid. She spots Ernest cycling past where she works on a daily basis. Each day Ernest, also from a working class family which he embraces, waves to Ethel as he cycles past. On the 5th day he turns up with flowers and this is the spawn of their relationship. The rest of the film follows on from this, following them as they get new jobs, a new house, and a child. The child being the writer of the film Raymond Briggs. A lot of the film shows Briggs' career choices going against what his parents wanted as they got him into a grammar school and wanted him to do something academic, while Briggs' just wanted to study art and become an animator. The film carries on through until the end of their lives with a rather sad ending.


Authors:

Raymond Briggs, from England, is an author, illustrator and cartoonist who is well known in Britain and abroad for his animated films and shorts. His most well known piece of work The Snowman is a Christmas classic in Britain. Briggs' pursued cartooning from an early age as he knew it was what he wanted to do for a career. He studied at Wimbledon School of Art to refine his skills. After serving in the military for 2 years he pursued a career as an illustrator for children's books. He started gaining attention for his works. In 1982 the adaptation of his wordless cartoon called The Snowman was released as an animated Christmas short, despite it not being originally intended as a Christmas film, yet for many who enjoy it it is seen as a hallmark tradition of Christmas in England. Since then he has had various comics and books turned into shorts or films, most notably Fungus the Bogeyman, When the Wind Blows, and Ethel and Ernest.

Production:

The film was produced by a team of animators from Cloth Cat Animation with help from Raymond Briggs. It used a mostly 2D hand drawn animate style with the use of 3D sets and hand drawn textures. This style provides a nostalgic feel and the use of 3D mainly noticeable in war scenes provides a more realistic effect whilst still maintaining the nostalgic feel and hand drawn 2D style even within 3 dimensions.


Reception:

The film premiered on BBC One  and received largely positive reviews. Many people saw the film as evocative of basic human emotions and portrayed a typical working class family in Britain of the time making it relatable to many people from Britain. The animation was seen as very supportive of the story and style of story telling.