# The Stain > Triggered by an actual news item about suicidal octogenarian twins, The Stain is a dark, domestic thriller which uses drawn, puppet, pixilation and live-action animation styles to spin a claustrophobic web of incest and intrigue. This is the Markdown rendering of [https://marjutrimminen.com/films/the-stain/](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/the-stain/), generated from the page itself. It carries the same words in the same order, with every image reduced to its description. The short map for machines is at [https://marjutrimminen.com/llms.txt](https://marjutrimminen.com/llms.txt). This page in Finnish is at [https://marjutrimminen.com/fi/lyhytelokuvat/the-stain/](https://marjutrimminen.com/fi/lyhytelokuvat/the-stain/). # The Stain 1991 · Short film · 16mm · 11 minutes A film by Marjut Rimminen and Christine Roche Video: [The Stain on Vimeo](https://player.vimeo.com/video/398311747?dnt=1&byline=0&portrait=0&title=0) ![Still from The Stain, puppet figures around a dining table](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-puppet-figures-dining-table.jpg) Triggered by an actual news item about suicidal octogenarian twins, The Stain is a dark, domestic thriller which uses drawn, puppet, pixilation and live-action animation styles to spin a claustrophobic web of incest and intrigue. ![Still from The Stain, drawn animation, family scene](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-drawn-family-scene-pram.jpg) > An examination of incest and sex abuse within the nuclear family. … The Freudian ability of animators deftly to display the motives behind the mask is one of the great strengths of the form. Animation can handle difficult delicate topics with extraordinary lightness and perception. > > – Jeanette Winterson, Sight and Sound, October 1992 > An imaginative animated fable about the benefits of family life: envy, incest, murder. With all the sinister simplicity of a tale by Edward Gorey, it is exactly the sort of thing that distributors should be picking up as support for their new features. > > – Waldo Lydecker, Time Out, 31 July 1991 > This is a kind of crusade for me. From the very moment I discovered animation, I sensed that it could deal with life's complex issues and be more powerful in it than live action. We receive animation differently. By not being real, animation can seduce the viewer to look at something he rather does not, and reach beyond the eyes, directly to the emotions of the viewer. > > – Marjut Rimminen, Edwin Carels interview, Annecy 1993 ![A drawn woman in a long red dress stands against a dark mass of roses, holding a rake-like tool.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-red-dress-figure-rose-collage.jpg) Photographs from the making of the film: the sets and puppets being built, lit and shot. ![A hand aims a camera at a miniature wallpapered room with a pram and a brown stain.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-camera-monitor-miniature-pram-room.jpg) ![One woman holds a wisp of cotton wool cloud above a model house; another watches.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-cotton-wool-cloud-above-house.jpg) ![Two women work over a model island set in a sea of crumpled foil, under a lamp.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-foil-sea-under-studio-lamp.jpg) ![A woman holds up a puppet with two identical bald heads in white shirts and red ties.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-holding-two-headed-twin-puppet.jpg) ![Studio lamps and a monitor surround a lit miniature room where a pram stands by the wall.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-lamps-monitor-around-pram-room.jpg) ![Two women stand behind a model house on a white cliff, blue paper sea and painted sky.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-model-house-cliff-blue-sea.jpg) ![A puppet woman in a dark red high-collared dress eats alone at a white-clothed table.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-puppet-woman-eating-at-table.jpg) ![One woman raises a thread overhead while another steadies a model house on a white cliff.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-raising-seagull-over-model-house.jpg) ![A red-haired puppet clutches its head beside a spreading red stain on the white tablecloth.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-red-haired-figure-and-red-stain.jpg) ![A red stain, a fallen goblet and a knife on the tablecloth between two seated figures.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-stain-goblet-and-knife-overhead.jpg) ![A woman on a stepladder reaches towards model seagulls on wires while another laughs below.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-stepladder-and-hanging-seagulls.jpg) ![Two women laugh in front of a board of pinned storyboards; one holds a small lamp.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-storyboard-wall-and-hand-lamp.jpg) ![Two identical bald figures with blank faces, in white shirts and red ties, at a laid table.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-twin-figures-at-laid-table.jpg) ![A puppet woman in a maroon dress reaches across the table with a yellow fruit on a plate.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-woman-reaching-with-fruit-plate.jpg) ![A tall puppet woman in black stands behind two bald figures seated at a dining table.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-woman-standing-behind-the-twins.jpg) ![Through a half-open door, puppets sit at a dining table under a red hanging lamp.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-doorway-view-lit-dining-table.jpg) ![A man in a dark suit walks down a corridor past pale limbs towards a small figure.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-man-walking-down-carpeted-corridor.jpg) ![A puppet in a dark red dress reaches towards a domed silver cover on a laid table.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-puppet-reaching-silver-dish-cover.jpg) ![Three drawn figures with outstretched arms rush down a narrow passage between pink and green walls.](https://marjutrimminen.com/images/the-stain/the-stain-1991-three-figures-rush-down-passage.jpg) - Free to stream at the [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/TheStainRimminenRoche), uploaded by producer Orly Yadin - On the DVD [Desire & Sexuality: Animating the Unconscious, Vol 1](https://www.britishanimationawards.com/product/desire-sexuality-animating-the-unconscious-vol-1/) from the British Animation Awards, the companion to Jayne Pilling's 2012 book - 🥈 **Special Jury Prize**, 1992 [Hiroshima International Animation Festival](https://www.hiroanim.org/en2014/en_history/past04e.html) - 🥈 **Special Jury Prize**, 1992 San Francisco International Film Festival Credits - Narration: Chrissie Roberts - Words: Harriett Gilbert - Research consultant: Julia Vellacott - Design: Christine Roche - Animation: Marjut Rimminen - Additional animation: Jeff Goldner, Heini Kauppinen - Assistant animators: Gail Walton, Shelley McIntosh, Isabel Radage - Painting: Sarah Strickett, Sam Padget - Checking: Debra Thaine - Set construction and electrician: Dick Arnall - Silversmith: Pierre Marchand - Rostrum camera: Heather Reader at Bob Godfrey Films - Lighting and camera: Cathy Greenhalgh - Editing and sound: Tony Fish, Peter Hearn at Picturehead Productions - Dubbing mixer: Ian Selwyn at Studio Sound - Music: Dick Heckstall-Smith, Dave Moore, Verdi, Schumann - Producer: Orly Yadin - Production: A Smoothcloud Production for Channel Four Television - Distribution: Channel Four International ## Screenings and broadcasts - In [The International Tournée of Animation, Volume 6](https://archive.org/details/the-international-tournee-of-animation-vol.-4-1991) (Expanded Entertainment), which toured cinemas, campuses and museums in the United States and was released on video - In [Serious Animation: The Films of Orly Yadin](https://vtiff.org/events/serious-animation-orly-yadin/), Shelburne Museum, Vermont, 1 March 2020, with [Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/) ## Retrospectives - **[Anima, Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/most-wonderful-voyage-folioscope)** 17 to 28 February 1998, retrospective homage at the 17th festival, presented by Marjut from the [Tetra Pak](https://marjutrimminen.com/commercials/tetra-pak/) commercials through [The Frog King](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/the-frog-king/) and [Urpo ja Turpo](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/urpo-and-turpo/) to The Stain and [Many Happy Returns](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/many-happy-returns/) - **[Tricky Women](https://www.trickywomen.at/)** 2008, personale at Topkino, Vienna: [Vivante](https://marjutrimminen.com/commercials/vivante/), [Absolut Marjut Rimminen](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/absolut-marjut-rimminen/), [Unicef AIDS Red Ribbon](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/unicef-aids-red-ribbon/), [Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/), The Stain, [Many Happy Returns](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/many-happy-returns/) and [Learned by Heart](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/learned-by-heart/) ## Writing about the work - **[Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/), The Stain**: Paul Wells, [Understanding Animation](https://books.google.com/books?id=G6IUoo_haJEC&pg=PA27) 1998, Routledge. Some Protection is the worked example of the documentary tendency in animation (page 27): the film "documents the deep anxiety of Josie O'Dwyer, using her own troubled recollections of abuse, petty crime and the brutalities of imprisonment, and effectively shows the perception of reality as it is experienced by O'Dwyer. Arguably, this is a more truthful reality and one which is only possible to document in animation." The Stain appears in the chapter on the feminine aesthetic ([page 199](https://books.google.com/books?id=G6IUoo_haJEC&pg=PA199)). The book spells her name Rimmenen throughout, index included - **[I'm not a Feminist, but…](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/im-not-a-feminist-but/), [Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/), The Stain**: Jayne Pilling (ed.), [Women and Animation: A Compendium](https://books.google.com/books?id=8IKGAAAAIAAJ&q=Rimminen) 1992, British Film Institute. A three-page profile (pages 37 to 40) on the making of I'm not a Feminist, but… with Christine Roche, on Some Protection, and on The Stain, of which Pilling writes: "it's rare to meet someone who's seen The Stain who hasn't been, quite simply, knocked out by it"; plus a filmography entry. The source of several quotations on this site - **The Stain**: Jayne Pilling (ed.), [Animating the Unconscious: Desire, Sexuality and Animation](https://books.google.com/books?id=HB3s-K7wWRMC&pg=PA193) 2012, Wallflower Press. Three pieces on the film: Karen Beckman's essay [Mixing Memory and Desire](https://books.google.com/books?id=HB3s-K7wWRMC&pg=PA190) (pages 187 to 192), which finds that "Rimminen and Roche draw on animation's capacity to exceed live-action's depiction of the world as it is to depict the possibility that deformation might mutate into transformation"; interviews with Marjut Rimminen and Christine Roche (193 to 198); and Roche's sketchbooks (199 to 207). Ruth Hayes returns to the film on [page 216](https://books.google.com/books?id=HB3s-K7wWRMC&pg=PA216). Reviewed by Ben Mitchell in [Skwigly](https://www.skwigly.co.uk/animating-unconscious-book-review/) - **The Stain**: Stephen Holden, [Animated Inventiveness](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/21/movies/review-film-animated-inventiveness.html) 21 January 1994, The New York Times, reviewing The 24th International Tournée of Animation at the Angelika Film Center, where The Stain was the longest film: "Created by Marjut Rimminen and Christine Roche, The Stain tells a troubled family history from the dual perspective of identical twins. Its characters and images, although inventive, lack the psychological resonance to bring to life a fable that has an abrupt and shocking ending." Reprinted in [The New York Times Film Reviews, 1993–1994](https://books.google.com/books?id=2tlkAAAAMAAJ) - **Marjut Rimminen**: Giannalberto Bendazzi, [Animation: A World History, Volume III: Contemporary Times](https://books.google.com/books?id=BpvhCgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT86) 2016, CRC Press: a biographical paragraph in the chapter on Great Britain (pages 71 to 72), from the 1968 graduation and [Vivante](https://marjutrimminen.com/commercials/vivante/)'s Zagreb award through Halas and Batchelor, the commercials for Finland, The Stain, [Urpo & Turpo](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/urpo-and-turpo/), [Many Happy Returns](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/many-happy-returns/), [Mixed Feelings](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/mixed-feelings/) and [Red Ribbon](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/unicef-aids-red-ribbon/) to [Learned by Heart](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/learned-by-heart/), with a still from it; and a passage in the Finland chapter ([page 135](https://books.google.com/books?id=BpvhCgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT221)): Learned by Heart "x-rays the country's history through the eyes of a child" - **[Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/), The Stain, [Many Happy Returns](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/many-happy-returns/), [Mixed Feelings](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/mixed-feelings/)**: Clare Kitson, [British Animation: The Channel 4 Factor](https://archive.org/details/britishanimation0000kits) 2008, Parliament Hill Books, the history of the channel's animation commissioning: of the Blind Justice series, "the final film, Some Protection by Marjut Rimminen, would attract the most accolades"; The Stain was "brought to the channel by two of the Blind Justice team"; Mixed Feelings and the credits of Many Happy Returns; a photograph of Marjut at Fantoche with its Grand Prix (page 165) - **The Stain**: Hannah Hamad, [Feminist narratives](https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182050/) 2025, in The Encyclopaedia of Animation Studies, volume 4, Bloomsbury: the film as a dark narrative of patriarchal domestic violence and family trauma told in the mode of the fairytale - **[Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/), [The Frog King](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/the-frog-king/), The Stain**: Richard Taylor, [The Encyclopedia of Animation Techniques](https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofan0000tayl) 1996: stills from the three films with captions, "excellent examples" of their techniques - **The Stain**: Olivier Cotte, [Il était une fois le dessin animé… et le cinéma d'animation](https://books.google.com/books?id=lGnjtPHwbNoC) 2001: the invitation to Halas and Batchelor, the independent career in England, and the film - **The Stain, [Learned by Heart](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/learned-by-heart/)**: Meghan Annette Gilbride, [Memory Migrations: Bringing the Past to Life in Contemporary Animated Film](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1532856/) 2012, PhD thesis, University College London: both films in the corpus of animated non-fiction of personal remembrance - **The Stain, [Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/)**: [Sight and Sound](https://archive.org/details/sim_sight-and-sound_1992-10_2_6) October 1992, Jeanette Winterson's review of the year's shorts ("Two of the best shorts, The Stain…"), and a full entry on The Stain in the November 1992 issue for its BFI and Connoisseur video release; The Times, 17 August 1993, listing both films for television - **Listed in**: The British Edge (1987); British National Film and Video Catalogue (1989); The Illusion of Life: Essays on Animation (1991); Arrows of Desire: New Directions in British Film and Video (1993); The British Cinema Source Book (1995, the BFI's viewing copies of [Some Protection](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/some-protection/) and The Stain); Film, Video and Multimedia Guide (1997); The Complete Index to British Sound Film Since 1928 and the Facets Video Encyclopedia (1999); Kino plus (2002); Directory of World Cinema: Finland (2012); and the Finnish periodical index, the Art Index, the Humanities Index and the International Index to Film Periodicals - [Many Happy Returns](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/many-happy-returns/) - [Learned by Heart](https://marjutrimminen.com/films/learned-by-heart/) ## Get in touch For festival and screening enquiries, teaching, masterclasses, or correspondence: [marjut.rimminen@gmail.com](mailto:marjut.rimminen@gmail.com)