‘Tangles’ Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Stars in Heartbreaking Yet Beautiful Animated Film Detailing Alzheimer’s with Humor and Pathos [A] Cannes

Leah Nelson’s latest animated film, Tangles, is an emotionally devastating tearjerker that studies the painful and troubling experience of a family dealing with Alzheimer’s. There is always one or two big surprise hits at the Cannes Film Festival that get everyone talking, think: The Substance or Anora. Tangles was one of those at this year’s festival, stealing everyone’s heart and soul. Nelson has everyone firmly tangled up in her masterful grasp throughout the animated hit’s 102-minute runtime.

We first meet teen Sarah (Fern Grandin) in the midst of what could be a horror film. The wallpaper is alive, and the monsters are out in full force, but in steps her brave and courageous mother, Midge (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who comes to the rescue. She battles the monsters using a lightsaber-like torch that emits purple light. She’s a vibrant ray of hope for young Sarah, which quickly establishes the way she sees her mother. Cut to the future, and Sarah (Abbi Jacobson) is a talented artist working for a queer magazine where she is encouraged to draw raunchy illustrations. Sarah is living the life in San Francisco, and after a fun night out, she gets involved with a girl named Donimo (Samira Wiley), who eventually becomes her new girlfriend. Everything changes after a trip back home, where Sarah witnesses the rapid decline of her beloved mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

Sarah’s family are obnoxious and in denial for a good chunk of the beginning of the film. This infuriates Sarah because she is hyperaware and scared of what’s to come next. Despite a burgeoning career back in California, Sarah drops her things and puts her life on hold to regularly visit her sick mother. Some of the funniest scenes occur when Sarah flies home with the aeroplane announcer speaking their inner, most outrageous thoughts. What’s said is hilarious and outlandish to say aloud, but so true, and it makes for a great break, as the saddening drama unfolds.

Leah Nelson’s adaptation of Sarah Leavitt’s graphic novel is an incredible feat of animation. The film is equally hilarious and beautiful as it is heartwrenching, which, for an Alzheimer’s drama, is rather unthinkable. Nelson has struck gold here with this expressive, black-and-white animated film that is creative to no end. A scene where Sarah and her father lose her mother in a crowd in Mexico becomes a haunting nightmare, as the animation contorts into a nightmarish hellscape for Sarah, who is frantically searching for her poor mother. The animation is always impressionistic and feels deeply personal with its hand drawn style that neatly pays homage to Leavitt’s graphic novel. It has a real personality, which is echoed through the protagonist’s artwork, whose drawings test the boundaries of her medium, just like the film does.

Sarah’s world is split between two places, which is echoed by the choice to go black-and-white. The lack of colour adds to the film’s dire and sombre outlook on life, but sprinkles of colour break up the uniform visual palette to great effect. Every time there is a dash of colour, it’s meaningful and serves to cut through the rather drab and depressing moments. It’s a wonderful choice that provides an extra boost of energy to the visuals. Nelson has a deep understanding of the story she’s telling, and the animation perfectly complements the inner feelings of the characters and taps into the audience’s emotions. The dread, sadness, and joy that Sarah goes through are deeply humane and sadly very relatable for most people. It’s easy to tell that Tangles’ story comes from the heart with how deeply personal and emotionally charged it is. It’s inspired by Leavitt’s experience of caring for her mother, which she detailed in her 2010 graphic novel titled ‘Tangles: A Story about Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me’.

A fantastic ensemble of top-notch voice actors brings life to Nelson’s already impressive animated world. Abbi Jacobson voices the deeply caring, awkward, and creative Sarah. She is great in the quiet moments, but also explosive during heightened scenes of emotion where battling is needed. Those scenes mainly occur between Sarah and her family, who have differing ideas of how to care for Midge. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ performance as Midge, Sarah’s loving, yet lost mother, is the film’s calling card. She portrays her as courageous and joyful in the film’s opening flashback, which ends with Sarah worshipping how cool her mother is. Before switching to a rather muted and confused tone, her character begins to lose touch with reality. Seeing that stark contrast is heartbreaking to experience, and it takes a toll on Sarah, who has so much admiration for her amazing mother. Bryan Cranston and Beanie Feldstein round out the family’s voice cast, Cranston plays Sarah’s father with a caring and delicate touch, as he learns to accept his wife’s fate. Feldstein plays a more combative role whose differences with her sister are quite stark; it leads to multiple fights due to the family wanting to continue life as normal and ignore her mother’s deterioration in the hope for some normalcy at first.

The emotional journey that Sarah goes through is indescribably tough, but she learns to accept the challenges and find beautiful moments in the fleeting time she has left with her loving mother. There is no escaping the worries of the present or the sadness when reminiscing on the past, but Sarah finds catharsis in caring for her mother and using her creative talents to express her inner feelings. Another key theme is the idea of being forced to reconcile with your upbringing, and for Sarah, it means venturing away from San Francisco and returning to her conservative hometown in Maine. A key flashback shows Sarah’s mother scolding a group of homophobic teenage boys at a gay pride parade. Such moments are shown to have been vitally important to Sarah coming out as a queer woman. Seeing her mother being so outspoken and supportive of such matters, despite living in a town where heterosexuality is the norm, must have been so inspiring and comforting as Sarah grew up and eventually realised her sexuality.

​Leah Nelson has not only made an exceptional film from a form and stylistic standpoint, but she’s effortlessly tapped into the audience’s emotions and rinsed one of their tears. Tangles is a special film that deserves to be experienced on the big screen. It’s an animated marvel that showcases the emotional and creative pull that the animation medium has to offer. It’s a deeply tragic and heartwrenching watch, but it has great moments of levity, joy, and laughter for all to enjoy.

Grade: A

This review is from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival where Tangles had its world premiere in the Special Screenings section.

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Ben Rolph

Ben is a film and television journalist, who is based out of London, United Kingdom. As the Senior film critic at DiscussingFilm, Ben regularly writes reviews, features, interviews and attends film festivals. Also, Ben runs the DiscussingFilm Critic Awards that have been running since 2019 and is a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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