SPOILER WARNING: The following review contains plot spoilers for the 2024 movie “Memoir of a Snail”
On Oct. 25, 2024, the Australian stop-motion film “Memoir of a Snail” came out in theaters, grossing $987,962 worldwide with a $7,000,000 budget. It received great reviews across the board, scoring a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.1 out of 10 stars on IMDb.
Despite its name, “Memoir of a Snail” does not feature talking snails. The bleak comedy follows the life of Grace Pudel, a reclusive hoarder who surrounds herself with snail memorabilia. In the beginning, Grace’s only friend, Pinky, has just passed away.Grace releases Pinky’s favorite pet snail, Sylvia, into the garden. Having no one else to talk to, and because snails are slow, she begins to recount to Sylvia, who’s slowly inching away, the events that would lead her to meet Pinky and shape who she is today.
The story Grace tells of her childhood is one of hardship; each blow causes her to recede further into her shell. Her mom—a lover of snails—died in childbirth, leaving her and her pyromaniac twin brother, Gilbert, in the care of their alcoholic father. When the father eventually passes away, the twins are separated and sent to two equally bizarre foster families on opposite sides of the country. Much of “Memoir of a Snail” consists of letters sent back and forth between Grace and Gilbert, vowing to return to each other. The twins’ correspondence is the only meaningful interaction Grace has for much of her childhood. However, this, too, is shattered when Grace learns Gilbert had died in a fire he’d set in his foster family’s house.
Despite being animated, “Memoir of a Snail,” is not appropriate for children. The film explores challenging themes like depression, isolation, and trauma in a comedic way. Each character is weighed down by their “shells” that they must escape to move on with their lives.
The gorgeous claymation adds a layer of humor to this dark film, with the characters’ exaggerated features—wild hairdos, big eyes and teeth, and floppy faces—adding a comedic aspect to even the most melancholy moments. Still, Grace’s long series of misfortunes is told without giving us a moment to catch our breaths, and as Sylvia the snail slowly slides away, you start to wonder whether there’s a point to the story.
“Memoir of a Snail” isn’t as pointless as it seems, though. The movie ends with a glimmer of hope: Grace decides to pursue her dream of becoming a stop motion animator and she reunites with her long-lost brother, Gilbert, who had been presumed dead. Thankfully, Grace is provided with some closure from her traumatic past. Even as she’s reflecting on her childhood, she’s moving forward because snails are incapable of going backward and have to move forward, however slowly.
While it can get a little exhausting at times, “Memoir of a Snail” has a runtime of only one hour and 35 minutes. Ultimately, it’s a reminder of the importance of leaving the past in the past, breaking out of your “shell”, and moving on to forge a better life.