‘Iron Boy’ review: Belgian animator Louis Clichy’s first feature is striking, personal study of a challenging childhood | Reviews

Dir. Louis Clichy. France/Belgium. 2026. 90mins

The middle child of a taciturn farmer father and careworn mother, 11-year-old Christophe (Gary Clichy) suffers from a spinal condition that affects his balance. The treatment for this is a fixed metal corset, worn for next two years. It’s a painful, restrictive device which disrupts his childhood and also serves as an allegory for the limiting expectations of his farming family. But it also, unexpectedly, offers him modern opportunities. The impressive solo directing debut from Louis Clichy bolsters its intimate, small-scale story with detailed, nuanced characters and strikingly lovely 2D hand drawn animation.

The immediate selling point for the picture is its gorgeous, organically hand-crafted style

Playing in Annecy competition after bowing in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, this is a personal work for Clichy (co-director of Asterix: The Land of the Gods and Asterix and The Secret of the Magic Potion), who spent his early childhood on a farm in the agricultural region of Beauce, in northern France – the same region in which this story unfolds. And like the film’s central character, the director also wears a metal spinal support corset. The elegant, economical style of animation harks back to the very early tiny films in the director’s career. Much of Clichy’s subsequent work was in computer-generated 3D animation: he cut his teeth as an animator at Pixar, working on Wall-E (2008) and Up (2009).

Here, his distinctive operate of scant lines and watercolour washes has a kinship with that of Chicken For Linda! (2023) by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach. And there’s a tonal link too: both films take a child’s eye perspective on darker, more traditionally adult themes – bereavement in Linda!, and family tension and economic pressures in Iron Boy. The film’s genuine depiction of struggling agrarian communities, its fascination with tractors and the extensive diegetic operate of church music might not make it an obvious sell to younger audiences, but this is a work of considerable charm which, in Christophe, has an endearing and relatable central character. Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North and Latin America, plus several other territories and will likely position the film for awards consideration.

Christophe’s condition manifests itself as an imbalance – he starts to lean, then to topple over. Something in him is off-kilter. Understandably, for a boy whose main priority is being ‘strong’ and able to shoulder his share of the responsibilities of the farm, his frailty knocks his self-worth (particularly since a lapse of balance meant that he inadvertently wrote off his dad’s cherished tractor). His already strained relationship with his father (Dimitri Colas) is further tested: his terse and taciturn dad finds it challenging to talk about anything other than his disappointment in his son. But Christophe, who builds his strength in the swimming pool and learns to play the church organ, finds connections elsewhere – notably with a livewire fellow swim student, Clara (Brune Moulin), who encourages him to operate his corset for shoplifting gentle drinks from the village shop.

The immediate selling point for the picture, for animation-buff audiences and beyond, is its gorgeous, organically hand-crafted style. The look of the film, building on black and white line drawings by Clichy, was created with watercolour and coloured inks on paper by art director Cécile Guillard. It is she who chose the picture’s striking minimal colour palette of blues and beige tones, occasionally warming to russet tones or filling with hopeful spring greens at times of emotional significance.

One such moment is Christophe’s cycle ride home from one of his music lessons with the village church organist Michel (Alexandre Astier). Spotting his promise, Michel has lent the boy a CD Walkman and a copy of Fauré’s ’Requiem’. The music is transformative – it touches Christophe and it changes the world around him, with the earthy tones of the landscape suddenly shifting to green and the promise of modern life. Elsewhere, other music is equally significant: ’Comme un Ouragan’, by Stéphanie de Monaco, is a repeated motif which is used to memorable and playful effect.