Silex and the City is a highly successful French comic book series that has been adapted into an acclaimed animated TV show, known internationally as The Darwinners. Created by the cartoonist Jul and set in prehistoric times, the comic debuted in 2009 and has since expanded to 9 albums that have sold over 1 million copies.
The license’s popularity has led to the development of a homonyme 2D animated film (80′), directed by Jul and Jean-Paul Guigue, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and Annecy Animation Festival. The film, produced by Je suis bien content, Left Field Ventures, and Arte France Cinéma, maintains the satirical spirit of the original comic, transposing contemporary issues to the Paleolithic period. 
The film follows the Dotcom family – father Blog, a hunting instructor; mother Spam, a prehistory and geography teacher; and their children Web, a teenager struggling with emancipation, and Url, an «alter-darwinist» activist. A conflict between father and daughter disrupts the Stone Age family’s routine. After a tragicomic time travel adventure, they accidentally bring back an Ikea-style Allen key, causing the rapid and chaotic development of human civilization. Writing, monotheism, yoga, and contemporary art emerge as a result of this mysterious object, along with ultra-consumerism, religious wars and Nazism. The film explores the unintended consequences of this evolutionary catalyst and the Dotcom family’s struggle to cope with the drastic changes.
The 2D technique is well suited to depicting the original comic strip; live action is used when the father and daughter travel to the present, providing the viewer with amusement, but at the same time a subtle sense of alienation, suggesting the possibility of other dimensions.
The film boasts an impressive voice cast, including former President François Hollande and well-known French actors such as Bruno Solo, Julie Gayet and Léa Drucker, and Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb.
Like the series, the film is entirely concerned with pop culture, as well as literary or philosophical culture. As Jul specified, there are many cinematic references: the relationship with time and its pitfalls recalls Back to the Future; the key abduction sequence is reminiscent of heist films such as Ocean’s Eleven, and the final sacrifice is a cross between The Name of the Rose and Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
The soundtrack captures the eclectic and parodic spirit of the movie, with iconic song such as Philippe Katerine’s Louxor j’adore. Rather than relying on primitive tribal sounds, the track seamlessly blends Latin, klezmer, and electro rhythms into a crazy, over-the-top fusion.
Silex and the City managed to please its fans, juggling with jokes and paradoxes galore. One of its strengths is its ability to be a light-hearted critique of any human attachment to something external and different from contact with oneself, nature and concrete everyday reality.
The movie will be released in cinemas on 11 September 2024, distributed by Haut et Court Distribution and Urban Sales.
