From its establishing shot of the Eiffel Tower bent in on itself, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 needs you to know it is vitally French, if somewhat twisted. The turn-based RPG revels within the aesthetic of developer Sandfall Interactive’s dwelling nation, which frequently helps to differentiate the sport from its many high-profile influences. As a story of dying and grief it’s laborious to not make comparisons to style titans reminiscent of Final Fantasy X and Lost Odyssey. And positive, the themes are comparable, however did Tidus ever put on a beret? I don’t assume so.
Much of the overt French aesthetic of Clair Obscur can appear to be a floor degree coat of paint. Yet there may be rather more to Sandfall Interactive’s adoption of the Belle Époque fashion on this darkish fantasy facsimile of France. With just a bit understanding of French historical past, it turns into clear that this isn’t a case of fashion over substance — the fashion is the substance.
This article comprises spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Dressed to impress
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s prologue does lots of narrative heavy lifting. In lower than an hour we’re launched to our most important solid and the stakes of the world. Every 12 months the residents of Lumiére endure the Gommage, an occasion triggered by a godlike being referred to as the Paintress who seems every year to color a descending quantity within the sky, sentencing anybody older than that quantity to die instantly. To cease the infinite dying, an expedition of volunteers is shipped out yearly to take down the Paintress. That’s us.
While emotionally loaded, the prologue additionally establishes the central aesthetic of the sport. Lumiére, with iconic landmarks such because the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, is a barely totally different model of real-world Paris. The greatest distinction is the precise Paris Clair Obscur seeks to emulate. City streets lined with buildings melding Art Nouveau and Neoclassical structure level to a Paris of the Belle Époque.
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Literally which means “the beautiful age,” the Belle Époque is a interval of French historical past that spans from 1871 to 1914 (the start is extra debated, however the ending just isn’t). A extra particular date for Clair Obscur’s pseudo-Paris could be estimated by the inclusion of the Eiffel Tower (accomplished in 1889) and costuming outlined by slender suiting for males and shirtwaist and skirt ensembles for girls. Taken collectively, Lumiére is roughly Paris proper earlier than the flip of the 20th century.
But what does that each one imply for the world of Clair Obscur? At first, not a lot. Once the titular expedition leaves the protection of Lumiére and enters the monster infested continent, that iconic Belle Époque fashion is sort of lacking from the world. The most we get for hours on finish are scattered buildings in destroy that after related to Lumiére. Our solid is let unfastened in an uneventful apocalyptic fantasy setting.
The lack of that Belle Époque set dressing, nonetheless, may simply be the purpose. The cause the period looms so giant within the cultural consciousness — particularly of France — is as a result of it was a interval of peace, progress, and hope. All these traits appear nearly antithetical to the world of Clair Obscur, a world outlined by stagnation and endless loss, but they go hand in hand.
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Juxtaposing the Belle Époque aesthetic of our world with the tough actuality of Clair Obscur’s highlights precisely what the expedition is combating for. Gustave, Maelle, and the opposite members won’t take pleasure in the identical peace and prosperity as their “real” counterpart, however it’s a blueprint for what they’re combating for. As the expedition will get farther from dwelling, they lose tangible reminders of why they every selected to go on this mission. All they’ve is the dream and their hope. Through this, Clair Obscur reinforces its perception within the want for optimism, even when it appears silly.
Yet, very similar to the narrative of Clair Obscur, the Belle Époque aesthetic is hardly so simple as it appears. Even as a interval outlined by optimism and peace, it’s hiding one thing a lot darker that extra intricately ties it to the grim world of the sport. The Belle Époque as a flip of phrase, and signifier of a sure interval, was not modern to the period itself.
“The term … was adopted by public opinion after the First World War,” writes historian Dominique Kalifa, “This transfer and the birth of the myth can be easily explained as the phenomenon of a generation that had known terrible suffering, lost the best of itself, along with its illusions, and tried to forget the blood and mood from 1914-1918 by exalting the long period of peace and stability that had preceded it.”
The Belle Époque is a fiction fueled by nostalgia for a time earlier than struggling, a time that should have been higher than what existed put up conflict, at the very least within the minds of those that coined the time period. A late twist in Clair Obscur reveals that the world of the sport is itself nothing however a fiction inside a canvas, maintained by a grieving mom (the painter) as some semblance of consolation following the dying of her son, Verso. With this information, it turns into clear that the Belle Époque aesthetic just isn’t deployed by Sandfall to evoke the parable of the period, however the tragedies that necessitated its creation.
Back to actuality
Essential on this understanding of Clair Obscur’s use of the Belle Époque is the concept of fable making or making a false reminiscence of the previous. Even the title of “beautiful age” is one thing rigorously chosen to embrace solely the very best components of the Belle Époque, ignoring its grittier realities. While the Belle Époque is taken into account a interval of optimism, progress, and prosperity, it was one thing crafted by a rich class trying to “retreat into a frivolous, fairy tale kind of existence,” writes professor Ninón Rodríguez, and all the time got here at the price of these with out wealth. This need to stay inside a fantasy, even on the expense of others, is similar habits of the Paintress herself, in addition to your complete ethos behind coining the Belle Époque within the first place. It is a swirling whirlpool of nostalgia and makes an attempt to cover away from struggling.
Kepler Interactive
This nostalgic fantasy has been remodeled right into a dwelling hell for the residents of Lumiére because of the Paintress’ lack of ability to let go of her son, who exists in facsimile with the canvas. Despite being influenced by the Belle Époque, Clair Obscur’s world previous the prologue typically feels extra in step with the horrific struggling of World War 1. The very first scene you witness when touchdown on the continent is a violent slaughter of the expedition. All these folks stuffed with hope are unsparingly minimize down in a matter of seconds in a messy blur of gray punctuated by technicolor crimson — blood.
It’s a picture that evokes the immense casualties seen in trench fees, which noticed troopers rush out into no man’s land in the direction of enemy territory. Further into the continent, although not that a lot additional, the expedition encounters fixed mass graves and corpses of expeditions previous. It’s a reminder of the endless onslaught of meaningless dying introduced on by the Paintress in her grief.
Clair Obscur and the Belle Époque are each cash with hope and grief on both facet. Hope is a necessity, particularly for these coping with grief. An particular person, a household, a rustic all want hope to maneuver previous the struggling of the previous. Clair Obscur’s warning is to not fall into the lure of wanting again on a false reminiscence of bygone instances for the chance of dropping your self utterly. Sandfall Interactive layers on these realities — Lumiére, the world outdoors the canvas, and our personal actuality — to continuously poke holes within the myths we create. This is all tied collectively, by the fixed of the Belle Époque aesthetic. The closing message of Clair Obscur is to us, on this actuality, to maneuver on from that fiction as effectively, however with hope for many who come after.
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