Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud were known for their superb documentary films Oceans and The Migratory People. This time, the duo looks at our European forests, with Les Saisons, a beautiful ode to nature.
Embellished with the sweet and familiar voice of Jacques Perrin, the film makes us relive the natural history of our continent, with the last ice age as its starting point. Exploring the inextricable and complex link between animals and humans for thousands of years, the film aims to be committed, but remains an educational and poetic entertainment accessible to the whole family.
As for the previous opus, the images are sublime and filmed with dexterity, and the diversity of European fauna and flora perfectly highlighted. Surrounded by a veritable regiment of researchers and scientists, the film team was able to tame the unpredictability of nature in order to bring back intimate images, as close as possible to the animals and their habitat. Science is then put at the service of the image, supported by big names such as Jean Marie Pelt, President of the European Institute of Ecology, Gilles Boeuf, President of the Museum of Natural History of Paris or the President of the League for the Protection of Birds, Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.
We also find here a superb soundtrack signed Bruno Coulais, a classically trained French composer, who had already collaborated with the director duo on Microcosmos, Le Peuple Migrateur and Oceans. Perfectly marrying the changes of seasons with a sweet aerial melancholy, the instruments seem to adapt to the image. "I thought the orchestration according to the spacialization with echoes of woodwinds, percussion and strings. (…) The musical density compared to that of the image has been my constant concern."
If this film is aesthetically a real treat, it is no less informative and thought-provoking. Where is man in his cohabitation with animals? What solutions so that it extends in the long term without ravaging our environment?
"Man needs trees. However, today, it is the trees that need people," says Jacques Perrin. While global warming is at the heart of the debates, it is high time to rethink the attitude of our society towards nature.
Also find the free smartphone application Morphosis, a fun experience available for Android and IOS, which traces in game form the major stages of the evolution of European landscapes.
Available on AppStore and Google Play.
Check out the film's news on its official website.
