''Periwig Maker'' is a 1999 British-German short

stop motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

film. 15 minutes long, it is based on

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...

's novel ''

A Journal of the Plague Year ''A Journal of the Plague Year: Being Observations or Memorials, Of the most Remarkable Occurrences, As well Publick as Private, which happened in London During the last Great Visitation In 1665'', commonly called ''A Journal of the Plague Ye ...

'' (1722). The film was produced by Ideal Standard film, directed by Steffen Schäffler and narrated by

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

Plot

The film is set in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1665, during the

Great Plague of London The Great Plague of London, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the most recent major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. It happened within the centuries-long Second plague pandemic, Second Pandemic, a period of intermittent buboni ...

. The protagonist is a

wig A wig is a head covering made from human or animal hair, or a synthetic imitation thereof. The word is short for "periwig". Wigs may be worn to disguise baldness, to alter the wearer's appearance, or as part of certain professional uniforms. H ...

maker who locks himself in his shop, isolating himself from society so that he will not contract the plague. He watches from inside his shop as the plague ravages the city, taking the lives of the majority of the citizens. He makes observations in his journal, hypothesising that the plague is transmitted through effluvia (breath, sweat and the smell of sores). The camera pans through the dark, dilapidated city filled with death. The wig maker focuses on a newly orphaned girl with striking

red hair Red hair, also known as ginger hair, is a human hair color found in 2–6% of people of northern Europe, Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and lesser frequency in other populations. It is most common in individuals Zygosity#Homozy ...

who lives across the street. He watches her mother's corpse get tossed to the body collectors and the girl succumb to the plague herself. The night before she dies, the girl's spirit visits the periwig maker and informs him of her imminent death. After her death, he goes to the

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...

and retrieves her red hair to make a wig from it. In the final scene, the wig maker lies in bed, wearing the red wig, describing the reconstruction of London after the dissipation of the plague.

Gothic influence

The short film utilizes several characteristics of the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

style. It includes the physical terror that the periwig maker experiences as he shuts himself in his house in order to prevent contracting the plague, while also the psychological terror of observing the sickness and death through his window and being unable to aid the victims and secure his own health. The mystery of the cause of the spread of the plague pervades the short film; the periwig maker rhetorically records in his journal his speculations of the cause but is never able discover the answer. The young

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

, another common component of the Gothic, takes center stage of the story when we see her mother's corpse being carried away and her subsequent death-inducing contraction of the plague. The

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

is incorporated into the story with the apparition of the young redhead; it remains unclear if this is a construct of his psyche or an actual occurrence.

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

dominates and lingers not only with the plague victims but also in the air that transmits the illness and then finally in the wigs that contain the hair of the deceased. Though the Periwig Maker has escaped the clutches of the plague, the last scene of him wearing the red-haired wig indicates that he has lost some semblance of sanity. Therefore, far after the plague has dispelled, his psychological degradation and

madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

remain.

Awards

*2000 Best Short Fiction Film – Children's Jury: 24th Annecy International Animation Film Festival, 2000 *2000 Best Animated Short Film:

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Awards, 2000 *2000 Special Recognition for Excellence: Aspen Shortsfest, 2000 *2000 Special Distinction: 40th Kraków International Short Film Festival, 2000 *2000 Best Short Film: 26th Seattle International Film Festival, 2000 *2000 Best First Film: 14th Animafest Zagreb: World Festival of Animated Film, 2000 *2000 Grand Prize for Short Film: 4th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, 2000 *2000 Special International Jury Prize: 8th Hiroshima International Animation Festival, 2000 *2000 Best First Professional Film: Ottawa International Animation Festival, 2000 *2000 Best First Film: 7th I Castelli Animati: International Animated Film Festival, 2000 *2000 Best Animation Film: 4th LA Shorts Fest, 2000 *2000 Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury: 43rd DOK Leipzig: International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, 2000 *2000 Best European Film: 24th Cinanima: International Animated Film Festival, 2000 *2001-Best Animated Short Film: 73rd

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

(nominated) *Sources:2001, Oscars.org, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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References

External links

*{{IMDb title 1999 films 1999 animated short films 1990s stop-motion animated films 1990s British films 1990s German films Films set in 1665 Animated films set in London Stop-motion animated short films Gothic horror films German animated short films Films based on British novels Films based on works by Daniel Defoe British animated short films Annecy Cristal–winning films Great Plague of London Films about viral outbreaks Animated films about orphans