Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (Jack et la mécanique du cœur, 2014) is a French animated musical you can watch online on iFILM. Jack is born on the coldest day Edinburgh has ever known, and the newborn's heart freezes solid. The witch-midwife Madeleine saves him the only way she can: she fits a cuckoo clock where his heart should beat.

The gift comes with three rules. Never touch the hands. Keep your temper in check. And above all, never fall in love. Jack manages to obey right up until he meets a short-sighted singer named Miss Acacia, and the ticking in his chest loses its rhythm. The story carries him from Scotland down to Andalusia and into a Paris funfair run by the inventor Georges Méliès. Mathias Malzieu — frontman of the band Dionysos — wrote the source novel and the music, co-directed the film and voices Jack himself, so the songs aren't filler numbers but the very pulse of the plot. Its gothic, Tim Burton-flavored design will land with anyone who loves a sad fairy tale built for grown-ups. Stream Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2014) online on iFILM.