Mostly Dull Treat for Marcel Pagnol Fans

You could say that Marcel Pagnol’s movies are defined by the faces he cast, none more distinctive than that of Raimu, a music-hall legend turned big-screen star whom Orson Welles called “the greatest actor in the world.” As it happens, “The Triplets of Belleville” director Sylvain Chomet’s films are also marked by faces, which the French animator sketches by hand in a loving but labor-intensive process that reflects the previous century every bit as much as Pagnol’s best-loved novels (“Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring”) and plays (“Marius,” “Fanny” and “César,” all three of which he adapted to screen).

What a beautiful marriage of artist and author “A Magnificent Life” should be, right? That’s only partly true, alas. Drawing from Pagnol’s career-encapsulating essay collection, “Confidences,” Chomet honors the man’s achievements — the way a dry textbook or pedagogic graphic novel might — but fails to convey why those who don’t already possess some level of fascination with Pagnol should care. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, the movie sports the same lively visual style as Chomet’s earlier work, which is by far its best quality (Stefano Bollani’s enchanting score is another of its strengths).

Less successful is the film’s script and the voice actors who read it in both French and English versions. The way Chomet operates, the film’s personality comes across via the detailed and incredibly expressive faces, not the dialogue or its delivery. If the goal was to ignite an interest in Pagnol’s life and work — to send audiences rushing to the Criterion Channel or a bookstore to brush up on his oeuvre — then it risks having the opposite effect, presenting Pagnol as that funny-looking man who made the leap from stage to screen at precisely the moment talkies were taking off in France.

But Chomet presumes you already know why that matters (a pioneer of the…