Although Yuri Norstein’s Tale of Tales (1979) has a complex structure, in the director’s words, this film can be summarized in a simple sentence: “We are alive.”
We can understand his explanation by analyzing the episode called “Eternity.” This episode was conceived when Norstein experienced a feeling of absoluteness borne out of a daily occurrence. He constructed this episode using a simple graphic style. His use of this style implies that he wanted to portray a world that was devoid of all preconceived notions, and wanted to transform the world into something new by animating it in the mind of any person who peeked into it. When people realize that each of them can lend a new meaning to the world by watching this film, the feeling of being alive returns.
Tale of Tales is not a film that creates a fantasy world, but a film that animates this world.