Mesmerizing time capsule, with a restoration featuring a superb contemporary soundtrack by Jeff Mills, which brings out surprising latent qualities of the film. Supposedly praised by Renoir and Vigo, it further fueled my hunger for rewatching (and watching) dozens of French movies (oh, the ultimate cinephilic cliché, but what can I do), and my recent craving for some good old French literature.

One of the things that strike me when watching similar documentaries is seeing, for instance, a bird or a dog, so fully alive on screen, and realizing they have been long dead – for I believe in cinema as a form of resurrection and, for me, the slight fluttering of the image characteristic of older films is the very pulse of the life and the reality that have been captured by the camera, the etheric atmosphere of people and animals, of metal and stones, of air and light.

The link below is just to offer a glimpse into the vibe of the film. By all means, watch it in good quality.

There is yet another soundtrack for this film (Prima Vista Quartet), which is much closer to what the original soundtrack might have sounded like – it produces a different viewing experience, though.

(Featured photo: excerpt from the Youtube video above)