Harpya is a 1979 Belgian short comedy horror film written and directed by Raoul Servais, which tells the story of a man (portrayed by Will Spoor [nl]) who tries to live with a harpy (portrayed by Fran Waller Zeper), a mythical being that is half woman and half bird of prey with an insatiable appetite.

The nine-minutes-long film, which has no spoken dialogue, explores authority and domination, themes Servais had earlier addressed on a larger, societal level but here applied to a personal relationship.

These themes are reflected in the story about the harpy who dominates the simple, middle-class protagonist, and in the film's atmosphere and dark colour scheme.

Unlike the director's earlier films, which discuss domination in relation to society at large, Harpya approaches the theme on an individual level through a personal relationship.

[6] In interviews, Servais downplays its seriousness and describes it as a parody of the vampire genre, with no big, philosophical idea behind its story about a gentle, bourgeois man who invites a monster that devours him to his home.

[10] The harpy shares her partially human form with the mermaid in Servais' Siren (1968) and the motif of the half-human is emphasised when the protagonist in Harpya loses the bottom half of his body.

[16] Servais said he had exhausted the possibilities of the traditional cartoon, having used drawing styles ranging from the simple to the complex, the spontaneous to visuals close to expressionist paintings from the interwar period, and he thought it was necessary to try something different.

Servais travelled to London to study special effects techniques used in contemporary commercial cinema but these were too expensive so he had to invent his own process.

[24] According to the journalist Wim de Poorter of Ons Erfdeel [nl], the influence from Magritte is apparent in Harpya's sober scenery, soft colours and shadows in moonlight.

[4] Servais says he has been influenced by surrealism and owes his understanding of the movement to Magritte but he feels closer to magic realist painters such as Paul Delvaux.

Hill called it "by far the most complex" work Servais had done[34] and Poorter wrote its pessimistic tone makes it stand out although its music contributes to an ironic and less serious side.

[36] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it the "most astonishing" entry at the International Tournée of Animation, praised the tension it creates and said it successfully expresses a fear that "life will eat you alive".

Colpart also said Servais is one of a few people in animation who constantly question, replace or complicate their techniques, and that in Harpya he turned disparate elements into a fascinating whole.

[39] In 2017, David Cairns of Mubi's Notebook said the story in Harpya is reminiscent of "Jenifer" (2005), an episode of the television series Masters of Horror.

He wrote although Harpya can be viewed as a misogynist fable, it does not strike him as offensive because it remains open to interpretation, uses dark humour and conveys a sense of confidence.

[42] Harpya received the 1980 Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Short Film from the Catalan branch of Radio Nacional de España.

[46] Harpya's positive reception and its Palme d'Or win gave Servais international renown, and prompted more film festivals to invite him onto their competition juries.

[48] He describes the technique from Harpya as the precursor to a quicker process he developed soon afterwards and patented as servaisgraphy [fr], which he intended to use in Taxandria but producers and financiers chose a more conventional combination of live action and animated special effects.