Fusing elements of Kafka and Kubrick, Caterpillarplasty is a prescient, grotesque sci-fi satire that lifts plastic surgery to another level.

A prescient, grotesque sci-fi satire that lifts plastic surgery to another level. Set in a state-of-the-art clinic, in a world where advanced technologies have given rise to new standards of beauty and prestige, Caterpillarplasty offers its sardonic take on a social obsession with beauty that’s spiralled out of control.

“Are you tired of living in a cocoon? Our clinic specializes in the revolutionary Caterplastics™ treatment to help shed your old skin and transform you into the beauty you were born to be. Dr. Sommervogel and his team at the Iridescent Lifestyle Institute are waiting for you.”                                             

Fusing elements of Kafka and Kubrick, Caterpillarplasty is a prescient, grotesque sci-fi satire that lifts plastic surgery to another level. The film is set in a state-of-the-art clinic that mirrors a twisted cultural and economic system, a world where advanced technologies have cultivated new standards of beauty and prestige. As aggressive body modifications become an increasingly popular fad, the unnatural becomes natural, giving rise to a new kind of ostensible beauty that is costing us our individuality—and with it, our humanity.

Created with surgical precision by filmmaker David Barlow-Krelina, Caterpillarplasty is a technical wonder of 3D animation and rendering tools, notably “subsurface scattering”—a shading technique that simulates the ways in which light interacts with skin, creating a glossy, sterile environment that’s both horrifying and hypnotic.

Directed, animated, designed and written by Barlow-Krelina (Bless You, A Horse Throat), and produced by Jelena Popović (Hedgehog’s Home, I’m OK, Manivald), Caterpillarplasty offers its sardonic, psychedelic take on a social obsession with beauty that’s spiralled out of control.

I was intrigued by the process of insect metamorphosis and how the caterpillar undergoes complete disintegration inside the chrysalis before emerging as something new. It deals with the notion of shedding the old to become something more beautiful.

I wrote the initial idea for Caterpillarplasty during a phase when I was completely absorbed by stories revolving around research on psychedelic drugs conducted in the ’60s. I was caught up in the excitement about these substances and their potential to be used as agents in psychotherapy that could allow the individual to make dramatic positive changes to their personalities. There was something intriguing about the mystery, controversy and spiritual motifs surrounding these substances, as well as their usage for centuries in ceremonies to enable encounters with the divine and facilitate spiritual transformation.

The desire to undergo positive change is ever-present in our society. On the individual level, self-help books, podcasts, motivational speakers, and new-age retreats show us the path to becoming more beautiful versions of ourselves. On the institutional level, religious, political, and social movements with masses of followers and charismatic leaders profit from a narrative that says, “Where we are now is an impure state, but not to worry, we offer a solution to help you become something better.”

I found myself thinking a lot about where we’re going as a species, with rapidly accelerating technology, and human genetic modification and cloning becoming more of a reality. The title Caterpillarplasty has a number of connotations, including the notion of interspecies hybrids and mythological creatures like the chimera. There was something unsettling about the idea of humans being so clever in some ways—having a great deal of mastery over the material world—yet being so out of touch in others. I wanted to make a film that uses a ramping-up narrative structure, where the scenes are continually one-upping each other and moving further and further away from anything we consider to be normal.

I imagined a fictional “beauty cult” that holds certain aesthetic values as religious dogma. An institution in a fictional universe that has its own set of rituals and mythologies where the butterfly is a divine symbol and the people engage in practices to move closer to that image of perfection. The people in this society think they are beautiful, but they’re so self-obsessed and caught up in their own heads that they’ve lost touch with anything real.

I have always been interested in science fiction, psychedelia, the unknown, the alien and the grotesque. Insects fall into this category. The butterfly is used as a shorthand symbol for positive transformation in beauty salons all over the world. Yet at the same time, some people find insects to be repulsive. The abstract symbol is beautiful, but the real thing is ugly.

In the same way, many ideological movements brand themselves with images that are uplifting and pure, but there’s often an unsettling underbelly that comes hand-in-hand with overly abstract symbols and guiding principles. I wanted to explore this interplay of abstract-real, beauty-ugliness, attraction-repulsion, expressing it through 3D animation and digital sculpture in vivid detail. I wanted to use caricature and exaggeration to depict the warped sensibilities of the fictional society. The people desire to become the butterfly.

I imagined how funny the human species must look from the perspective of aliens on the outside looking in. A society full of self-obsessed techno-primates, who make sincere efforts to improve their situation but are continually becoming trapped in ideological feedback loops or overcomplicated technology. I wanted to make a film that recognizes this tendency in each of us, and to celebrate the absurdity of it all through animation, music and storytelling.

Blame it on that cool high school teacher.

With his strongest grades in maths and physics, David Barlow-Krelina seemed destined for a career in the pure sciences — but a graphic design teacher in his last year of high school pointed him in an altogether different direction.

Jump forward a decade or so and the would-be scientist is hard at work in the NFB Animation Studio, performing the final nips and tucks … (click to read the interview on the NFB blog)