Princes et princesses (2000)

One evening, in a disused cinema, a boy, a girl, and an old projectionist get together. The three of them make up stories by asking themselves, “What if...?” They then choose a time period and a region of the world, create characters, and make costumes using a computer-controlled machine. Once they are ready, the boy and the girl play the leading roles in the story they have invented. In the Middle Ages, a princess is enchanted by a monster. A prince must find all the diamonds in a necklace within a dramatically short time to free her, and will be turned into an ant if he fails. In ancient Egypt, a young peasant offers figs to the queen-pharaoh Hatshepsut, which have miraculously ripened on his fig tree in winter. Jealous, the palace steward tries to stop the peasant from enjoying the queen’s favor. In the Middle Ages, a king offers his daughter’s hand to anyone who enters a witch’s castle. Several princes’ attempts end in failure. A young peasant enters the castle by asking permission to come in. The witch ultimately turns out to be not very threatening, and the boy decides to stay with her. In Japan, during the Edo period, a thief wants to rob an old woman wearing a valuable coat, who proves stronger and more cunning than the thief had anticipated. In a science-fiction universe, a queen subjects her suitors to a deadly test: remaining invisible to the mega-radar. A Fabulo showman, pretending to be one of these musical animals, takes shelter in the queen’s chamber and manages to outwit the trap. In a romantic park, a prince and a princess kiss and turn into animals: a toad, a slug, an elephant. They can only keep kissing to escape these transformations, until the final reversal of roles.