---
name: "René Laloux"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/rene-laloux"
fi1m_id: "rene-laloux"
imdb_id: "nm0482537"
tmdb_id: 80260
wikidata_id: "Q958483"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "13 July 1929"
died: "14 March 2004"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T17:47:42.946577+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# René Laloux

## Identity

René Laloux

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/rene-laloux
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** rene-laloux
- **IMDb ID:** nm0482537
- **TMDB ID:** 80260
- **Wikidata ID:** Q958483
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Laloux, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q958483, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0482537/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/80260

Director. Born 13 July 1929 in Paris, France. Died 14 March 2004.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 13 July 1929, Paris, France
- **Died:** 14 March 2004
- **Also known as:** ルネ・ラルー, Rune rarū, 赫内·拉鲁, Hè nèi·lā lǔ, Рене́ Лалу́ , René Lalú, رينيه لالوكس, rinih lalwiks, 르네 랄루, leune lallu
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Laloux, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q958483, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0482537/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/80260

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Fantastic Planet*](https://film.one/film/fantastic-planet.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on René Laloux

> René Laloux’s animated science fiction is worth exploring for its strange creatures and the distinctive drawings of his collaborators. We recommend *Fantastic Planet* warmly, with the reservation that its central character matters less than the world around him.

The creatures in *Fantastic Planet* (1973) are more absorbing than its central character, and René Laloux gives us time to look at them. We were unsettled by their strangeness; simply surveying the landscape becomes an anxious activity. At 72 minutes, the film can linger without wearing out our interest. For all its shortcomings, this is animated science fiction we recommend warmly.

Laloux’s career takes shape through his choice of artists. The short *The Snails* (1965), made with Roland Topor, helped lead to his first feature, *Fantastic Planet*, produced with the Jiří Trnka studio in Prague. Later came *Time Masters* (1982), with Moebius, and his final feature, *Gandahar* (1987), with Caza. The change runs from Topor’s cross-hatching to Moebius’s clean geometrical lines and Caza’s mythological designs, while Laloux keeps his collaborators’ drawing styles recognisable in animation.

The cut-out technique in *Fantastic Planet* suits that approach: the pleasure lies in examining a drawing as much as watching it move. Laloux does not need fluid movement to hold our attention, though the limited and uneven movement in the later features is a reservation worth keeping. Alain Goraguer’s music is another reason to stay with *Fantastic Planet* when the characters cannot provide one. We would not trade those creatures for smoother animation, but their fascination cannot do every job a screenplay needs doing.

The screenplay Laloux wrote with Topor, from a novel by Stefan Wul, makes its concern with coexistence clear enough. Jean Valmont’s adult Terr supplies a narration that helps us follow events without bringing us especially close to him. The warning would matter more if Terr held our attention as firmly as the next strange creature; Laloux’s care for the inhabitants of this world is not equally distributed. Start with *Fantastic Planet*, and do not expect Terr to be the part you remember.

## Biography

René Laloux was a French animator, screenwriter and film director. Born in Paris on 13 July 1929, he studied painting at art school and worked in advertising before taking a position at a psychiatric institution in Cour-Cheverny, where he began experimenting with animation alongside patients.

His early shorts included collaborations with Roland Topor, such as *The Snails* (1965). Laloux's best-known work is the feature *Fantastic Planet* (1973), for which he served as director and co-screenwriter; the film won a special jury prize at Cannes. He later directed *Time Masters* (1982) with Jean Giraud (Mœbius) and *Gandahar* (1987), and died in Angoulême on 14 March 2004.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, animationmagazine.net.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Fantastic Planet* (1973), Fi1m 80, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-planet.md)

## Complete filmography (20)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Rain Children* (2003), Author, Idea
- *The Eye of the Wolf* (1998), Adaptation, Writer, Original Film Writer
- *Ernest the Vampire* (1989), series, Music Supervisor, Art Direction, Editor, Controller
- *De l'autre côté* (1989), series, as Series Composition · Series Director, Original Series Creator, Art Direction, Original Series Design, Original Concept, Original Story, Writer, Screenplay, Director, Creator
- *The Chimerical Staircase* (1988), as Art Direction
- *Gandahar* (1987), Director, Writer, Screenplay
- *How Wang-Fo Was Saved* (1987), Director, Adaptation, Screenplay, Writer
- *The Captive* (1985), Director, Writer, Art Direction, Screenplay
- *Quality Control* (1984), Director, Screenplay, Writer
- *Time Masters* (1982), Director, Writer, Screenplay
- *The Machine-Men* (1977), Director, Screenplay, Writer
- *The Game* (1975), Director, Screenplay, Writer
- *Fantastic Planet* (1973), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-planet.md)
- *The mountain giving birth* (1973), Lyricist, Writer, Story
- *The Snails* (1966), Director, Screenplay, Animation
- *Little Claus and Big Claus* (1964), as Un tanneur
- *Dead Times* (1964), Director, Screenplay, Writer
- *Monkey's Teeth* (1961), Director, Screenplay, Writer
- *The Achalunés* (1959), Director, Screenplay, Writer
- *Tick Tack* (1957), Director, Writer, Screenplay

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/rene-laloux