Title cards introduce images we watch without narration; they are displays of shape and color. François de Roubaix's electronic music accompanies these images, photographed under a polarizing microscope. The crystals appear to move like tiny organisms: small four-part fans share the frame with flowing lines of pink. Multiple patterns appear side by side.
Cinematography
Microscopic footage so lush you'll forget it's chemistry.
Score
de Roubaix's synths: equal parts planetarium and nightclub.
Direction
Painlevé makes minerals perform like living creatures.
Director
Jean Painlevé
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jean Painlevé spent 50 years making science films that played in avant-garde circles and nightclubs alike.
François de Roubaix, the composer, died in a diving accident just two years later—this score is among his last.
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