Americans will recognize Belleville as a super-sized New York in which all inhabitants are morbidly obese. The French inhabitants are proven—once and for all—to live on a diet of frogs and too much wine. Eccentric old ladies with wrinkled hands, puffy feet, and indomitable spirits shine as the glue that really holds society together.

It doesn’t matter that the dialogue is in French since there is so little of it. The characters communicate with looks, sighs, and rhythm. The loving grandmother is able to deduce her withdrawn grandson’s fascination with bicycles by reading his diary. As the years go by, she continues to show her love for him by her participation in his chosen sport of bike racing, culminating in a Tour de France-type race. The picture of this old woman on a tricycle, setting his pace during training with rhythmic blasts on her whistle—and in spire of her short leg and wandering eye—is both funny and touching. When he is in danger, she literally goes to the ends of the earth to find and rescue him. Along the way, she joins forces with the triplets, a formerly famous singing trio of sisters now fallen on hard times.

This cartoon is a memorable visual feast with unusual exaggerations of people and places. Our family’s favorite was the French mafia hit men, whose rectangular shoulders in black trench coats ended above their heads. They were walking boxes that could merge into larger walking boxes when two men walked side by side. The impossibly tall ocean liners and skyscrapers next to the grandmother’s ridiculously short stature serve to emphasize her lack of societal status and power. She is just an old lady, after all. This cartoon warns that the world would do well to not underestimate old ladies!