I’ve seen La Planète sauvage so many times, starting in the 80s thanks to Night Flight, and all the way up to now and honestly, I don’t have the slightest idea of what it’s all about and love it all the same.

An international co-production between France and Czechoslovakia based on Stefan Wul’s Oms en série, this movie is about the relationship between the gigantic blue Traags, who have kidnapped humans, renamed them as Oms and take them to their home planet of Ygam to help maintain their society, whether that means hard labor, serving as pets or being hunted.

Three Traag children torture a female human and kill her, orphaning her child Terr, who becomes the pet of Tiwa, who soon begins a symbiotic relationship of sorts with him, even taking her to meditation classes where Tiwa learns more about the Traag than any human before. By using these meditation techniques, Terr is able to learn how the Traag reproduce and of a moon that they call the Fantastic Planet, a place where they are able to finally find peace between the two races.

Fantastic Planet could be about that or it could be about whatever you want it to be, such as pets and humans, human rights or just something to trip out to, including the Pink Floyd-referencing soundtrack. It’s gorgeous — it took five years to animate — and still a movie I put on from time to time, even if — as I mentioned before — I have never decided what it’s all about.