Gilles Laurent

Il était une fois… la vie is a French animated television series which tells the story of the human body for children. The program was originally produced in France in 1987 by Procidis and directed by Albert Barillé. The series consists of 26 episodes and originally was aired on the French channel Canal+, and then on the state owned channel FR3. It is the third part of the Once Upon a Time… series.

Once Upon a Time… Life reintroduced the edutainment formula that had been left out on Once Upon a Time… Space. The series combined entertaining storylines with factual information, presented metaphorically.

The series Once Upon a Time… Life used the same characters from the other Once Upon a Time… seasons: the good characters represent the cells that make up the body’s systems and defense mechanisms, such as red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, while the bad characters represent the viruses and bacteria that threaten to attack the human body. Every episode of the series featured a different organ or system within the human body.

In the French-language version of the series, the opening theme song “la Vie” was performed by Sandra Kim, the winner of the 1986 Eurovision contest.