Paris qui dort
René Clair
France,
1924
Eiffel Tower nightwatchman Henri Rollan descends to the streets one morning to discover the city frozen in time by a mad scientist: a taxi driver is caught mid-gear shift; a gendarme has dozed off with his hand outstretched to nab a pickpocket; a person on the brink of suicide is frozen in a dive toward the Seine. “The film doesn’t answer the question of whether life is more worthwhile on “pause” or on “play” — it’s more interested in examining what happens to a city when its throngs of people are eliminated from the equation. Clair experiments with documentary footage of Paris’ busiest intersections, from the Champs Elysées to the Place du Châtelet, with still images suddenly bursting to life, then freezing mid-frame as the ray works its magic.
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