Jean-François Laguionie’s 2011 animated masterpiece,
The Painting (“Le Tableau”), is set in an unfinished painting hanging in an artist’s room. There, the classes of people are divided by the completeness of their rendering. There are the ruling Alldunns (the fully flushed-out artistic creations), and the oppressed Halfies (unfinished images) and Sketchies (rough outlines). A small group, driven from society for intermingling, journey from the painting in search of their creator, hoping that he can fix their world and end the conflict.
The Painting is among the most beautiful animated films to be released in the past three decades and its breathtaking execution contains an homage to artists like Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
1 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7300 or visit mfah.org. Free with paid museum admission ($6 to $13).
Dec. 26-28, 1 p.m., 2013