

Méditerranée
[Here] Pollet made a work that is the very definition of what French critics like to call an ovni or ufo (as in ‘unidentified filmic object’). [It] has been described as being ‘like a comet in the sky of French cinema,’ an ‘unknown masterpiece,’ and an ‘unprecedented’ work that refuses interpretation even as it has provoked reams of critical writing. Its rhythmic collage of images – a girl on a gurney, a fisherman, Greek ruins, a Sicilian garden, a Spanish corrida – is accompanied by an abstract commentary written by Sollers, and only the somber lyricism of Antoine Duhamel’s score holds the film’s elements together. At first viewing, you fear that [it] might fly apart into incoherent fragments. Instead, over the course of its 45 minutes it invents its own rules, and you realize you’re watching something like the filmic channeling of an ancient ritual. – Chris Darke, FILM COMMENT
- Overview
- Crew
- Recommendations
Méditerranée
- Overview
- Crew
- Recommendations
Status
Released
Release Date
Apr 23, 1963
Runtime
0h 44m
Genres
Documentary
User Score
57%
Original Title
Méditerranée
Production Companies
Les Films du Losange
Director
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Description
[Here] Pollet made a work that is the very definition of what French critics like to call an ovni or ufo (as in ‘unidentified filmic object’). [It] has been described as being ‘like a comet in the sky of French cinema,’ an ‘unknown masterpiece,’ and an ‘unprecedented’ work that refuses interpretation even as it has provoked reams of critical writing. Its rhythmic collage of images – a girl on a gurney, a fisherman, Greek ruins, a Sicilian garden, a Spanish corrida – is accompanied by an abstract commentary written by Sollers, and only the somber lyricism of Antoine Duhamel’s score holds the film’s elements together. At first viewing, you fear that [it] might fly apart into incoherent fragments. Instead, over the course of its 45 minutes it invents its own rules, and you realize you’re watching something like the filmic channeling of an ancient ritual. – Chris Darke, FILM COMMENT
Crew
Recommendations

Far Side of the Moon

The Godfather

A Clockwork Orange

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Unbreakable

Dunkirk

The Beguiled

Split

Fargo

(500) Days of Summer

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The Apartment

Moonlight

Interstellar

The Shawshank Redemption

Modern Times

The Others

A Star Is Born

Murder on the Orient Express
