Me and My Moulton

Gr 9 Up—This first-person account is a slice-of-life tale of a seven-year-old girl in Norway, 1965. She is the middle child, with sisters who are five and nine, and her parents are a bit of an embarrassment. They are modernist architects, and her father sports the only moustache in town. Oh, the humiliation! She envies the family downstairs. They seem normal. In her comparison with those around her, she also notes her family's lack of a bicycle. She and her sisters beg their parents for a bike, and their wish is eventually granted, but it isn't the bike they had expected. Their parents buy a Moulton—a bike with an unusual design. Even by fitting in by owning a bicycle they'll still stand out. In the meantime, the girl discovers that eternal truth—those we envy aren't necessarily living the golden lives we imagine. This short animated film is a visual treat with interesting patterns, clean lines, and bright colors that reflect the parents' artistic style. Occasional blueprints that blossom into fully realized scenes imply that there is a plan behind everything, though it may not always turn out the way you expect. A little cartoon nudity is involved, once when the girls are only in their panties and when, in the protagonist's imagination, she imagines herself being outdoors in the altogether. While innocent and hardly explicit, this would preclude the film's use in most American elementary schools.