Iron Boy (film)
2026 film by Louis Clichy
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Iron Boy (French: Le Corset)[1] is a 2026 animated coming-of-age film directed by Louis Clichy and co-written by Clichy and Franck Salomé. A co-production between France and Belgium, it follows the 11-year-old Christophe, who tries to live up to his rigid and distant father on their family farm.
- Louis Clichy
- Franck Salomé
- Nicolas de Rosanbo
- Fabrice Delville[1]
| Iron Boy | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| French | Le Corset |
| Directed by | Louis Clichy |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | Gary Clichy |
| Edited by | Vincent Tricon[2] |
| Backgrounds by | Louis Clichy[3] |
| Color process | David Chantoiseau[3] |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | KMBO |
Release dates |
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Running time | 89 minutes[4] |
| Countries |
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| Language | French |
The film premiered at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2026, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It will be theatrically released in France by KMBO on 14 October.
Synopsis
Eleven-year-old Christophe has always tried to be the son his silent, unyielding father needs on their struggling family farm. Then his body starts to betray him, collapsing without warning again and again, until a cure arrives that feels as strange as the illness itself: an iron corset, worn day and night, that pulls him out of the only life he has ever known.
Exiled from the farm, Christophe finds something he never expected there, music, mischief, and a friend who sees past the steel.
Voice cast
- Gary Clichy as Christophe[3]
- Rod Paradot as JB[3]
- Brune Moulin as Clara[3]
- Dimitri Colas as Jean[3]
- Aurélie Vassort as Catherine[3]
- Alexandre Astier as Michel[3]
- Jean-Pascal Zadi as the Priest[3]
Production
Development
The Belgian companies Beside Production and RTBF and French companies Eddy Cinéma, Regular Production, France 3, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinema produced the film.[5]
Louis Clichy worked on WALL-E (2008) and Up (2009) before returning to France. He co-directed Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods (2014) and Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (2018) with Alexandre Astier.[6] Iron Boy originated as an animation by Clichy of a boy in a corset standing in a flat field.[7] Iron Boy was the first film Clichy directed by himself. Clichy and Franck Salomé co-wrote the film.[5]
Clichy noted that in French the word ferme (farm) comes from enfermé (locked up) and "implies a kind of withdrawal into oneself, like a brace".[8] The film is set in the Beauce region of France.[1] Clichy grew up on a farm in Beauce until he was ten and wore a back brace.[9]
Casting
Gary Clichy, the son of Clichy, voiced the main character.[10] Voice recordings were done with non-professional actors at a farm in Beauce[11][12] in January 2024.[12]
Animation
Eddy Studio, Caribara, Les Astronautes, Amopix, and L'enclume animated the film.[3] The art style uses Chinese ink brushes and watercolor painting.[13] Cécile Guillard, the film's art director, and Clichy conducted location scouting in Beauce.[11]
Soundtrack
"Ouragan" by Princess Stéphanie of Monaco,[14] and Gabriel Fauré's Requiem are used in the film.[4] Clichy initially did not want to use a score. "Ouragan" was selected as Clichy's three sisters frequently listened to the song.[14]
Release
Iron Boy premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival[5] on 19 May 2026.[10] KMBO will theatrically release the film in France on 14 October.[15]
After its Cannes premiere, Sony Pictures Classics acquired the distribution rights for North and Latin America, India, and Southeast Asian television in a deal brokered by Nicolas Brigaud-Robert of Playtime.[5]
It was screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival,[16] and was selected for the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.[17] It will be also screened in the Spotlight Gala section of the 2026 New York Film Festival.[18]
Reception
Critical response
On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[19]
Chase Hutchinson, writing for TheWrap, praised the complexity of the everyday characters in the film.[10] Siddhant Adlakha, writing for Variety, noted that despite its simple plot the film felt "aurally spiritual" due to its soundtrack and was "both visually dazzling and deeply personal".[2]
The composition and art style was praised by Brian Tallerico in his review for RogerEbert.com.[20] Wendy Ide, writing for Screendaily, mentioned the hand-crafted stylistic choices as "the immediate selling point for the picture" and noted the film's darker tone covering economic pressures.[21] Fabien Lemercier, writing for Cineuropa, praised the animation's "simple purity".[22]
Jordan Mintzer compared Iron Boy to Persepolis (2007), My Life as a Courgette (2016), and I Lost My Body (2019) in his review for The Hollywood Reporter.[4]
Jason Gorber of Next Best Picture called the film "emotionally rich, narratively confident, and visually compelling," describing it as "a moving story of childhood discovery."[23] Nick Ruhrkraut of AwardsWatch praised its "sublime hand-painted watercolor animation," calling Iron Boy "a timeless tale" and "the most compelling animated film of the year."[24] Clotilde Chinnici of FilmHounds described it as "unique and beautiful to watch on the big screen" and "a touching reflection on the power of music."[25]
Accolades
| Award | Ceremony date | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannes Film Festival | 23 May 2026 | Un Certain Regard Award | Louis Clichy | Nominated | [26] |
| Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize | Won | ||||
| Annecy International Animation Film Festival | 27 June 2026 | Cristal Award for Best Feature | Iron Boy | Nominated | [27][28] |
| Jury Award | Won | ||||
| Gan Foundation Award for Distribution | Won | ||||
| Audience Award for a Feature Film | Won | ||||
| Jerusalem Film Festival | 19 July 2026 | The Nechama Rivlin Award for Best International Film | Nominated | [29] |