Le Tableau (2011)
Directed by Jean-François Laguionie

Film Synopsis

For some reason known only to himself, a painter leaves one of his works unfinished.  It depicts a magnificent castle surrounded by a lake and gardens filled with flowers.  In the background, there is a lush valley and a forest that appears strangely threatening.  The picture is populated by three categories of people.  First there are the Toupons, who have been completed to perfection.  Then there are the Pafinis, who are recognisably human but haven't been completely coloured in yet.  Finally, there are the Reufs, who are no more than crude sketches, scarcely identifiable as human beings.  Naturally, the Toupons regard themselves as superior to the others and make themselves the masters of their idyllic world.  The Pafinis are driven out of the castle, whilst the Reufs become downtrodden slaves.

This segregation causes great distress to one Toupon, Ramo, who has lost his heart to one of the Pafinis, Claire.  The latter is forced to take flight with her friend Lola and a Reuf named Plume, whose best friend has just been trampled to death by the mob.  These three agree that the only way to restore harmony to their troubled world is to set out in search of the artist who created it and persuade him to finish his work.  Eventually, the three friends find their way out of the painting and arrive in the artist's workshop, to find several other pictures in various stages of completion.  Some of these they enter by mistake, and as a result they get themselves into the most desperate situations.  In one painting of a war scene, Lola narrowly evades being shot as a spy - she manages to escape with a drummer named Magenta.

Not long afterwards, Plume and Magenta are surprised to find that some of the paintings have been destroyed and quickly conclude that the artist is too dangerous to have any dealings with.  He is as likely to tear up his canvas of their world as he is to complete it!  Instead, Ramo comes up with a far better idea - why doesn't he and his friends simply finish their painting themselves?   By stealing some paints from the artist's workshop, the Pafinis and the Reufs have what they need to convert themselves into fully fledged Toupons, thereby bringing an end to the class divisions in their world.  Lola is unable to give up her quest for the artist and continues her search for him outside of his studio...