Jean Painlevé’s “Ten Commandments”
April 16, 2009
Next week, we release a definitive, three-disc set of the short documentaries of Jean Painlevé (1902–89), the pioneering French scientist-educator-filmmaker (and sometime Dadaist) whose Read more »
- France
- 315 minutes
- Color, Black and White
- 1.33:1
- French
- Spine #468
SYNOPSIS: The mesmerizing, utterly unclassifiable science films of Jean Painlevé (1902-89) have to be seen to be believed: delightful, surrealist-influenced dream works that are also serious science. The French filmmaker-scientist-inventor had a decades-spanning career in which he created hundreds of short films on subjects ranging from astronomy to pigeons to, most famously, such marine-life marvels as the sea horse and the sea urchin. This definitive three-disc collection brings together the best of these, and also includes the French television series Jean Painlevé Through His Films, rock band Yo La Tengo’s eight-film score The Sounds of Science, and an essay by film scholar Scott MacDonald.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Disc Features
THREE-DISC SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New, restored digital transfers of all twenty-three films:
Disc One
POPULAR FILMS
- HYAS AND STENORHYNCHUS (HYAS ET STENORINQUES)
1927 * 10 minutes * Black & White - SEA URCHIINS (OURSINS)
1954 * 11 minutes * Color - HOW SOME JELLYFISH ARE BORN_ (COMMENT NAISSENT DES MÉDUSES)
1960 * 14 minutes * Black & White - LIQUID CRYSTALS (CRISTAUX LIQUIDES)
1978 * 6 minutes * Color - THE SEA HORSE (L’HIPPOCAMPE)
1933 * 14 minutes * Black & White - THE LOVE LIFE OF THE OCTOPUS (LES AMOURS DE LA PIEUVRE)
1967 * 14 minutes * Color - SHRIMP STORIES (HISTOIRES DE CREVETTES)
1964 * 10 minutes * Color - ACERA, OR THE WITCHES’ DANCE (ACERA OU LE BAL DES SORCIÈRES)
1972 * 13 minutes * Color - THE VAMPIRE (LE VAMPIRE)
1945 * 9 minutes * Black & White - FRESHWATER ASSASSINS (LES ASSASSINS D’EAU DOUCE)
1947 * 24 minutes * Black & White - SEA BALLERINAS (LES DANSEUSES DE LA MER)
1956 * 13 minutes * Color - DIATOMS (DIATOMÉES)
1968 * 17 minutes * Color - PIGEONS IN THE SQUARE (LES PIGEONS DU SQUARE)
1982 * 27 minutes * Color
THE SOUNDS OF SCIENCE
- Eight films with original score by Yo La Tengo
- Interview with Yo La Tengo
Disc Two
EARLY POPULAR SILENT FILMS
- THE OCTOPUS (LA PIEUVRE)
1927 * 13 minutes * Black & White - SEA URCHIINS (LES OURSINS)
1928 * 10 minutes * Black & White - DAPHNIA (LA DAPHNIE)
1928 * 9 minutes * Black & White
SILENT RESEARCH FILMS
- THE STICKLEBACK’S EGG_ (L’OEUF D’ÉPINOCHE)
1925 * 26 minutes * Black & White - EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT OF A HEMORRHAGE IN A DOG (TRAITEMENT ÉXPERIMENTAL D’UNE HÉMORRAGIE CHEZ LE CHIEN)
1930 * 4 minutes * Black & White
FILMS FOR LE PALAIS DE LA DÉCOUVERTE
- THE FOURTH DIMENSION (LA QUATRIÈME DIMENSION)
1936 * 10 minutes * Black & White - THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL (IMAGES MATHÉMATIQUES DE LA LUTTE POUR LA VIE)
1937 * 14 minutes * Black & White - VOYAGE TO THE SKY (VOYAGE DANS LE CIEL)
1937 * 11 minutes * Black & White - SIMILARITIES BETWEEN LENGTH AND SPEED (SIMILITUDES DES LONGEURS ET DES VITESSES)
1937 * 10 minutes * Black & White
ANIMATION
- BLUEBEARD (BARBE-BLEU)
1938 * 13 minutes * Gasparcolor
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- More than two hours of interviews with the filmmaker, drawn from the eight-part television series Jean Painlevé Through His Films, directed by Denis Derrien and Hélène Hazera
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Scott MacDonald
From the CurrentView the Current »
Web Exclusives
Clippings
WEIRD SCIENCE
June 04, 2009
Apparently, a group called the Secret Science Club threw a pretty happening Painlevé party in Brooklyn a few weeks ago. Seems we weren’t on the guest list (well, it is after all “secret”), so it’s a good Read more »
Press Notes
PRESS NOTES: COME AND SEA
April 28, 2009
“The wonders never cease in this superb anthology,” exclaims the New York Times’s Dave Kehr in his review of the new Criterion three-disc set Science Is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlevé. And Read more »
