The concept of a utopia may be as old as human civilization itself. For as long as humanity has existed and suffered, we’ve imagined a better world where all our needs and desires are instantly met with no negative consequences. Utopias also figure heavily in science fiction stories where some sort of technological breakthrough brings about a futuristic Garden of Eden. But the thing about utopian sci-fi is that there’s usually a catch, a harsh Faustian bargain undergirding that paradise (think The Giver, or Wall-E).
That’s not the case in Arco, a beautifully hand-drawn new animated movie from French illustrator Ugo Bienvenu.
“Utopias are utopias because they’re not defined too much,” Bienvenu explained at a screening and Q&A attended by Polygon. “When you define too much, a utopia becomes reality.”
Arco begins in the 29th century, an idyllic world where humanity lives in self-sustaining houses perched on giant platforms held high above the Earth by man-made tree-like structures that burst through the clouds. Rather than attempt to explain how any of this works, Bienvenu relied on a shared cultural knowledge to fill in the gaps.
“In every foundational text — in Japan, in the Bible — there are gardens in the sky,” he said. “And I really wanted to use the subconscious of the viewer so I didn’t have to explain a lot of things; so I could go fast on some things to be able to go deeper with others.”
Before we have the opportunity to get comfortable with Bienvenu’s idea of utopia, he quickly rips it away, plunging his protagonist, a young, 29th-century boy named Arco, into the distant past of… the 2070s.
The movie’s near-future is much less heavenly. While technology has advanced, those advances are mostly used to push back against the climate chaos brought about by global warming. In one early scene, a raging storm decimates while suburban families go about their lives behind the safety of “bubbles” installed to protect their property. Raging fires constantly burn on the periphery of the town, threatening danger with a shift in the wind.
Other advances in the world of Arco’s near future are more subtle. Smart glasses have seemingly replaced smartphones, and residents walk through the world with reflective goggles glued to their heads. Robots have also become commonplace, replacing police and teachers, along with caretakers.
When Arco travels backwards through time, he winds up living with a family and their robot, Mickey. For Bienvenu, this robot has become a recurring character throughout his various illustrated works, including a handful of comic books.
“Mickey is a way for me to ask questions,” he says. “I use it in a lot of different works.”
In Arco, Mickey gains new dimensions. For one thing, unlike in comic books, he needs to have a voice. Bienvenu experimented with using artificial intelligence to create Mickey’s speaking voice, but wasn’t happy with the results.
“It was not good at all,” he said. “There were no emotions.”
So instead, he recorded two separate actors speaking the same lines of dialogue and then combined them together to create a singular voice, which he describes as an incredibly complex and time-consuming process. The experience taught him a valuable lesson.
“When it’s perfect, we don’t feel anything,” Bienvenu said. “That’s what makes us humans, and that’s why maybe AI is not going to kill all the jobs.”
But ultimately, whether it’s the future of AI or the possibility of a utopia here on Earth, Bienvenu isn’t interested in predicting what comes next for humanity. He’s much more interested in making art that reflects the world today than in guessing at where it’s all headed next, even if his work so often leans into sci-fi’s ability to imagine just that.
Or as Bievenue put it: “We shouldn’t know the future.”
Arco arrives in theaters on Nov. 14.
