Mark Reviews Movies: JUMBO

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 18, 2021

Writer/director Zoé Wittock treats the story of Jumbo with complete sincerity. It's about a shy young woman who falls in love with—as in, has romantic feelings for and sexual attraction toward—an amusement park ride. The movie doesn't want us to laugh at this. It doesn't want us to feel uncomfortable about it. Wittock wants us to accept the notion as it is, because the main character feels it and that's all that matters.

The movie makes a somewhat convincing case for how Jeanne (Noémie Merlant), who works cleaning up the park afterhours, feels for the ride, a spinning contraption she names "Jumbo." Wittock sees everything from the young woman's perspective—her loneliness, her sense of isolation from others, her discomfort with the overbearing ways of her mother Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot). Then, while Jeanne wipe the lights of the machine one night, it comes alive and puts on a show for her.

The filmmaker offers no explanation for these seemingly fantastical sequences, although they're almost certainly in Jeanne's head. Jumbo seems to communicate with her by way of the lights. It gives her a late-night ride, which gives Jeanne sexual gratification. In a dream-like scene, the machine's oil envelops her entire body, as if its essence has penetrated the woman's soul.

Such a psychological phenomenon has happened in real life (A woman "married" the Eiffel Tower, for example). Wittock's story, though, is almost absent of any form of psychological inspection.

We assume, of course, that much of Jeanne's external personality and internal reservations stem from the bond with her mother, who is horrified by her daughter's obsession and romance with the ride. We assume Margarette's example of quick and unfulfilling relationships with men has something to do with why Jeanne ignores Marc (Bastien Bouillon), the park's manager with whom she shares some pleasant moments. Margarette's newest boyfriend Hubert (Sam Louwyck) is something of an exception to the mother's ways, although he's here primarily for a big speech that sums up the movie's beliefs.

We have to assume a lot, because Wittock is so taken by the central relationship—between Jeanne and the inanimate object, not anyone human. Jumbo does convince us that, for whatever reason, a person can feel a deep connection to a thing. In romanticizing that connection so much, though, the movie loses sight of the humanity within this scenario.

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