''Not Without My Handbag'' is a 1993 British stop-motion animated comedy horror short film created by animator Boris Kossmehl at

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...

. The film is about a deceased aunt who forgets to take a proper handbag on her journey to Hell.

Plot

A girl lives with her aunt in a small house. One day, the aunt gets late for a washing machine payment. When reading the contract, she finds that “on non-payment of installments, the contractee shall go to Hell without further notice.” She makes a phone call for a

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

who lives in Hell and when he arrives, he kills her by giving her a heart attack and the girl witnesses her getting dropped to Hell and puts her dead body under a grave she had made. Meanwhile, while falling down the yellow spiral that leads to Hell, the aunt feels that she has forgotten something and starts to return to find out what it is, avoiding the devil. When returning as a skeleton, she explains to her niece that she forgot to take her treasured accessory, a proper

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse or pocketbook in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. Purse, handbag or pouch The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In man ...

. That night, the devil returns and transforms into a handbag when eating the handbag. He causes havoc around the house: he attacks and eats a mouse, and raids the refrigerator, until the girl catches him, but the devil kidnaps her in the washing machine. The next morning, the aunt looks for her handbag and she finds the devil torturing her niece in the washing machine and says that the monster is a very cheap imitation. The devil says he will give her a cheap imitation and starts dragging her to Hell again, but the girl stops him with a bakery’s worth of food. The devil eats the cakes and pastries and grows big and fat. The girl feeds him a chocolate éclair and the devil explodes releasing the handbag and land in front of its owner’s feet. The aunt says she would visit anytime her niece wants, remember to always read the small prints before she buys and also to avoid any cheap imitations. She and the girl bid each other farewell.

Cast

Geraldine McEwan Geraldine McEwan (born Geraldine McKeown; 9 May 1932 – 30 January 2015) was an English actress, who had a long career in film, theatre and television. Michael Coveney described her, in a tribute article, as "a great comic stylist, with ...

as The Aunt * Andrea Friedrich as The Girl * Alain Debray as The Devil / The Handbag * Robert Booth as Newsreader

Critical reception

German review site AllesFilm said ''Not Without My Handbag'' was "one of the best Aardman short films", and complemented its humour, visuals, deranged tone, and "genius fun".

References

1993 films British animated short films 1990s stop-motion animated films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films {{short-animation-film-stub