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About Jean Painlevé's cinema(2006-09-01) Jean Painlevé is to TV what BBC Radiophonic Workshop is to radio: a demanding dreamer and a mischievous specialist.
Son of the Prime Minister Paul Painlevé, inventor, biologist, he makes friend with the Surrealists during the mid 20’s but soon casts Breton out whose contempt for music is unbearable to Painlevé.
Then he directs strange educational movies about octopuses, crabs, sea horses… In 1930, Painlevé is revealed as an artist with his movie “Caprelles et Pantopodes” (available on the volume 2 of the DVD published by Les Documents Cinématographiques) supported with passion by Fernand Léger and Marc Chagall.
Later, using color films, Painlevé’s work steps definitely into a world of experimental marvels.
Weird ballet shot with close-ups, harsh lights revealing the heterogeneous textures and aspects of submarine wildlife, disturbing creatures swaying on electroacoustic soundtracks, Painlevé’s documentary films are fascinating and unconventional.
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