Jumbo

2020 Directed by Zoé Wittock

Jeanne, a shy young woman, works as a night guard at an amusement park and has a close relationship with her mother. While no man can compete with this opposed duo, Jeanne begins to develop strange romantic feelings for Jumbo, the latest attraction at the theme park...

Noémie Merlant Emmanuelle Bercot Sam Louwyck Bastien Bouillon Tracy Dossou Jonathan Bartholme Eduard Nemcsenko Noah Daccrissio Idao Daccrissio Stephen Rohde Chris Caligo Jimmy Raphaël Benoit Moureaux

Alternative Titles

점보, Τζάμπο, 恋する遊園地, Джамбо, Rak Chan Man Jumbo

romance drama fantasy

93 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by camila ★★★★½ 2

god said adam and eve not florence and the machine
Review by davidehrlich ★★★ 3

At heart, Zoé Wittock’s “Jumbo” is a rather conventional European dramedy about a single mother (the great Emmanuelle Bercot) struggling to accept the woman her daughter has become. On its surface, however, this pleasantly delirious feature debut tells the fable-like story of Jeanne, a young loner (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” breakout Noémie Merlant) who develops a deep psychosexual attraction to the tilt-a-whirl ride at the rundown Belgian amusement park where she works. So much that she orgasms at the thought of jet-black oil jizzing out of its metal parts and enveloping her nude body like the symbiote from “Venom.” Splitting the difference between “Terms of Endearment” and David Cronenberg’s “Crash” in a way that’s often sweet and surreal…
Review by Lucy ★★★½

AFI 2020: film #7
“he just makes me happy. that’s all”
a film about the brunette from portrait falling in love with a fun fair ride is the first of the fest to make me cry. beautifully shot and convincingly emotional, sometimes this runs a little off the rails but i stayed with it. and viewing it as a metaphor for homosexuality makes it even better
Review by sydney lou who 1

you vs. the amusement park ride she told you not to worry about
Review by Sara ★★★★½ 4

Jumbo perfectly exemplifies the queer experience, of otherness in a heteronormative society. a society where you're told that your love is "not the same"; where you have to remind others that it's "not [your] fault" for feeling the way you do; where you have to say, "i didn't ask for this". a society where many grow up with prejudice and around those who won't listen or understand; where you try to find happiness in a world that's judging you, disowning you. a society that makes you grow to hate yourself, kill your emotions, and tries to force you to conform to what others believe is "normal". you feel all alone. Zoé Wittock captures all this perfectly in her feature debut…
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★½ 2

Director and screenwriter Zoé Wittock combines the magical realism of The Shape Of Water with the heavenly notions of wonder from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind with her directorial feature debut, Jumbo.
The broad array of self-assured and luxurious visuals unfolds in a story that concerns a mousy young woman named Jeanne (Noémie Merlant). Jeanne falls in love with a carnival ride—yes, one of those mechanical contraptions which initially seem like fun but frequently cause a vast arrange of serious injuries ranging from broken bones to traumatic brain injuries.
Intrinsically, the film's strengths primarily lie in the fact that it is barely interested in limiting itself to superficial narrative concerns. Its resilience lies in its subtext with Jeanne's simply…
Review by Sarah ★★★★ 7

I have no idea how the movie where Noémie Merlant has sex with a theme park ride actually worked as a film and was good but I am really enjoying this timeline, and think we need more movies with pretty lights like this
Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★★

“Rouge pour non et vert pour oui”
"Red for no and green for yes"
Zoé Wittock was inspired by a woman who married the Eiffel Tower in 2007 and made this film. Jeanne (Noémie Merlant) falls in love with an amusement park ride. It was entertaining, endearing, funny, painful, and intriguing. Jeanne's mother, Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot), is selfish and is only worried how Jeanne makes her look. Though Merlant and Bercot really look nothing like each other, they still have an emotional connection.
Jeanne tries lots of things to forget her Jumbo including trying to experiment with another man, but no one can please her quite like this ride.
Review by Orla Smith ★★½ 4

another day working at the theme park. everyone keeps asking me if they can fuck the ride. buddy, they won’t even let me fuck it
Review by MarMar ★★★

Why is this so weird yet it feels so tamed? When it leans into the unorthodox relationship with the amusement ride that's when the film is at it's high, when it's not dealing with that situation the film is at it's low. It's a great premise of a film dragged down by the bland stuff surrounding it :/
Review by Jacob Knight ★★★★ 1

Carnival Magic. Imagine UNDER THE SKIN reimagined as a touching treatise on coming of age and fully realizing the ability to love, no matter who or what that feeling is applied to. Deeply in love with this one and can’t wait to revisit it.
Review by Jack ★★★

Cronenberg’s Crash meets The Shape of Water in Zoé Wittock’s intimate love story between a woman and an amusement park ride.
This bizarre concept had me hesitant going in, concerned that the peculiar nature of this relationship would be more outlandish than beautiful; however, I was proven wrong. Jumbo is chock full of beautifully directed surrealist scenes, and, at its core, you’ll find a relatable tale of adolescent love. It’s a uniquely erotic and ethereal film that tackles objectophilia in an empathetic way, never looking down at the relationship between woman and machine in disdain. But unfortunately, Wittock’s daring direction can sometimes cause the film to feel tonally unfocused. She wants to take this story in many directions—some of which don’t work as well as others—ultimately…

Recent reviews

Review by Mina Lucania ★★½

Girl made a movie about being sexually attracted to a rollercoaster ride and dedicated it to her dad. That’s what brave looks like.
I was expecting a bit more, but it felt like the movie flirted with going all these different directions then never really did go anywhere. It’s such a whacky, interesting concept and I feel like I just watched a coming-of-age movie with the love interest swapped for a rollercoaster ride but that could have just as well starred Steve Carrell as the cool dad figure and Toni Colette as the mom. I dunno, it just lacked any distinctive charm to me.
Review by lara_pacini ★★★

Noémi Merlant eu te amo e vc estava muito fofa de franja...
Mas pqp que surto
Review by PensaMovies ★★½

Não sei se escrevo algo sério sobre sexualidade ou uma piada sobre fazer amor com o Optimus Prime. Fico no meio disso.
Review by Tom_Carneiro ★★★★

Can you imagine how insane it was when the writer was trying to convince the studio to make her movie ? Lol
I’m glad they believe in Zoé cause this movie is beautiful! 🤩🥰😍
Review by Marc Aspinall ★★★½

Wayward horn.
Sits nicely with the little indies I've been watching from the My French French Festival. Just the right amount of quirk for it to hold.
**I went into this without reading the synopsis. I recommend anyone planning to watch it to do the same haha
Review by Shaun Heenan ★★½

"Get this: Noemie Merlant..."
"I'm listening."
"...falls in love with..."
"Perfect, keep talking."
"...A Tilt-a-Whirl..."
"Please tell me she..."
"...and she fucks it..."
"Genius!"
"...because she has crippling mental health issues. It's very sad."
"Wait. Stop. Go back."
Review by Pamela Nunes ★★★★

Okay but can we talk about how random guy from the bar is the only reasonable person in this movie?
Review by The Kong's Speech ★★★½

When Noemie Merlant wants to ride the carousel, she really fucking rides it. What would her girlfriend Adele Haenel think?
Review by Fabiano Liporoni ★★★★

101/2021 JUMBO (Fantaspoa)
Imperdível no Fantaspoa, filme francês que nasceu de um casamento de King Kong com Crash do Cronenberg.
Link pra assistir de graça no post do blog.
#1filmepordia
#fantaspoa
#Fantasia
#Horror
NOTA: 🎬🎬🎬🎬
Resenha e trailer: javiu.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/101-2021-jumbo-fantaspoa/
Review by Luciano de Miranda

Visto no Fantaspoa 2021.
Luzes de parque de diversão
Não pertencimento, confusão e solidão
Quem é o desumano na história?
Final bonito
Peitos
Milf e filf
Review by Heitor ★★★

Iche, iche, iche cada um com seus fetiche.
Review by SeanIn60Seconds ★★★★

this is now a Sam Louwyck stan account.