Stéphane Paravigna’s ‘Roland’ jumps into the restless mind of a man teetering on the edge. This French animated short, with its edgy 2D visuals and eerie, atmospheric soundscape by Anne Germanique, peels back the layers of a lonely man, spiraling into a surreal, feverish haze where reality warps and emotions sear.
Roland guides us through his suffocating reality. A dead-end job, a monotonous task (pressing a button, endlessly), a life truly drained. But then he has an encounter – an alluring woman. A fleeting touch of palms, electric. For Roland, it’s more extreme. It’s salvation. Or addiction. Or Hope.
Paravigna’s animation is jagged and raw, teetering between the absurd and the profound. The scenes pulse with a nervous energy, mirroring Roland’s descent into something stranger, darker. The world around him is oppressive, full of peculiar forces rattling his already fragile existence. The sound design grips tight, every tiny sounds building toward an almost dystopian tension.
But beneath its edgy, eccentric surface, Roland is about something heartbreakingly simple: a man drowning in monotony who, for one dazzling second, glimpses joy. Is it love? Obsession? A last desperate gasp before the void swallows him whole?
Paravigna doesn’t hand out easy answers – ‘Roland’ is elusive, a puzzle wrapped in its own eccentric logic. Its creative allure lies in how it effects the viewer, not just in visuals but in feeling. The film is hypnotic in its rhythm, unnerving in its honesty, and finely constructed to unsettle. Highly recommended.
