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Featured era: 2007
Henri, le Chat Noir
“A tuxedo cat, a weary sigh, and subtitles.”
- Featured era
- 2007
- Peak era
- 2012-2013
- Company
- William Braden
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
Henri 2, Paw de Deux
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- Will Braden
- Added:
- April 6, 2012
- Length:
- 2:05
More Videos4 videos
What Was It?
Henri, le Chat Noir is a web series of short films about the existential musings of Henri, a brooding tuxedo cat, written and directed by William Braden. Braden made the first film in 2007 as a student at the Seattle Film Institute. He was inspired by the American view of French films as "very pretentious and self-involved", and asked, "what could be more self-absorbed and pampered than a house cat?" His mother, who is fluent in French, helped with the language.
The second film, Henri 2, Paw de Deux, went up on YouTube in April 2012 and won the Golden Kitty award for best cat video on the internet at the Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Festival. Roger Ebert called it "the best internet cat video ever made."
Henri was played by Henry, a good-natured cat from the Seattle Animal Shelter who, Braden said, never suffered a single existential crisis.
Things You Probably Forgot
- The Golden Kitty award
- Roger Ebert's verdict on Paw de Deux
- Henri's films about cat food boredom for Friskies
- A book of Henri's existential musings
The Story
- 2007 Henri, the first film, was released on May 27.
- 2012 Henri 2, Paw de Deux was posted on YouTube on April 6 and won the Golden Kitty award.
- 2018 Henri 11, "Oh, revoir", announced Henri's retirement on May 18.
- 2020 Henry, the cat who played Henri, died on December 10 at the age of 17.
Its Legacy
The films remain on Will Braden's YouTube channel. Henri announced his retirement in 2018, and Henry died in 2020 at the age of 17.
Memories
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