Marcel the Shell with Shoes On follows a shell creature named Marcel, who you guessed it, has shoes on. Marcel lives a relatively peaceful life with his family in an Airbnb. That’s until a tragic event causes his family to disappear, upending his life forever. With the rest of Marcel’s family missing, this leaves Marcel and his grandma, Connie, with only each other. While this reinforces their bond, it also worries Marcel, because Connie is getting older and she is the only family that he has left. When an amateur director named Dean books the Airbnb and starts to make a documentary centered solely on Marcel and his life experiences, this throws his life into new territory.
Marcel enjoys being the center of the documentary. He is so used to only having him and Connie around that he flourishes to have someone new to talk to. However, his protectiveness of his grandma causes conflict between the two. Connie knows her death is near, and later in the story she ends up injuring herself in the laundry room (her favorite place) when Marcel and Dean are out on a trip. This makes him feel extremely guilty because he feels that he let his ambitions get in the way of what matters to him most, Connie.
After the incident he refuses to participate in anything else that could potentially hurt her, effectively putting his life on hold regarding the documentary. As time goes on Marcel starts to get traction from the short clips that Dean has been posting on Youtube about him. Marcel becomes popular on Youtube after a few months. This is enough to be invited for an interview on Marcel and Connie’s favorite TV show, 60 Seconds. Being on 60 Seconds is a dream for Marcel since he and Connie watch it every time it comes on. The show, in a way, created a stronger bond between the two. Connie wants him to go for it because she knows how much the idea excites him. But Marcel refuses to do the interview, ignoring what Connie wants, because he thinks that bringing people into the house could be dangerous for her.
Connie desperately wants him to come out of his shell (no pun intended) and, ultimately, she wants him to explore what his life would look like without her. So she starts to fake like she is getting better after a conversation with Dean opens her eyes to Marcel’s internal struggle. A cute, but saddening, montage shows her trying to put on a brave face for Marcel. We also see that Marcel starts to think that she is getting better. This prompts him to accept the interview within 60 Seconds. These scenes hone in on what the movie has to say about moving on.
Connie’s goal in the movie is to pass on her knowledge while looking out for Marcel. She wants to make sure that he is happy and that he focuses on his own goals instead of focusing so much on her. She realizes that she is only holding Marcel back from living his life to the fullest. This conflict comes to a boiling point in a tragic, yet uplifting, scene later in the movie where Marcel and Connie have a candid conversation.
Right as the 60 Seconds crew gets to their house, Marcel starts to have second thoughts. Dean, who was neutral on the whole situation tells Marcel that he can always cancel. Connie cuts in and tells Dean to shut up. She demands that Marcel must do the show, and she won’t let him refuse. He accepts and, finally, she feels at peace enough to rest. The whole ordeal is everything that Marcel could have hoped for and he is visibly exhilarated by the experience.
Tragically, Connie passes away during the interview. Connie’s whole character arc throughout the movie leads to this moment. All of the faking she does to get Marcel to believe she was getting better paid off. In a way her death was the ultimate sacrifice, neglecting her own well being so that Marcel (eventually) would have the capacity to move on.
After Connie’s death, Marcel is heartbroken but seems to be at peace with himself and what happened to Connie. Somewhere after her death I think that he starts to realize what she did for him. Later on we find out that sometimes Marcel goes to the laundry room to feel closer to her. Although he is reunited with his family, he sometimes needs a break from people every once in a while. As he sits by the laundry room window he says that he can sometimes feel her watching over him. When the wind blows he can feel it, only for a second washing over him. This is the movie’s ultimate message, that you must keep moving through life. Even when it changes and even when it hurts.
Make sure not to miss out on Caitlyn’s review on Empire of Silence and Jason’s review of The Penguin! Marcel the Shell with Shoes on is available on Hulu. For everything else stay right here on Geekwave!
