Animals
February 26, 27

(Un Animal, des animaux). For over thirty years the Zoology Hall of the Museum of Natural History in Paris was closed to the public while thousands of stuffed animals—mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, crustaceans—were abandoned inside. Animals wittily documents the Hall's renovation, recording the three years of intense, detail-driven preparation to bring the various inhabitants back to "life." Philibert subtly delights in the dedication of the zoologists as they go about their tasks—they are as passionate about what they do as any artist. Meanwhile, the animals take on an odd symbolic life of their own, their vacant faces providing a wry commentary on the various processes that revolve around them. An incisive testimony to the human desire, or compulsion, to preserve and document.

—Lisanne Skyler, S.F. Int'l Film Festival, 1995

• Photographed by Frédéric Labourasse, Philibert. (59 mins, In French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, Courtesy French Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Followed by:

Louvre City

Nicolas Philibert (France, 1990)



(La Ville Louvre). When the doors of the Louvre close to the public, the museum comes alive. Marble figures glide ethereally along the gallery floors; pictures come down from the walls and dust falls off of ancient beings long trapped in storage; priceless works languish along the floorboards, as if waiting for the inspiration to be hung; a statue, hapless looking as it is carted through the streets of Paris, once in place appears serene. If this sounds like an animated fantasy, it is not; Louvre City is a delightful documentary excursion behind the scenes at the Louvre during its renovation and reinstallation after the unveiling of I. M. Pei's pyramid. Economical and poetic, entirely without commentary, it shows an extraordinary team effort by preparators, curators, and custodians as equal players in the game of art. Messengers roller-skate down miles of corridors. Carpenters ponder the artworks and curators ponder the decision to “show the collection.” In revealing the seams in the canvas, Louvre City joyfully demystifies both art and its most celebrated palace.—Judy Bloch



Photographed by Daniel Barrau, Richard Copans, Frédéric Labourasse, Eric Millot, Eric Pittard. (85 mins, In French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, Courtesy French Ministry of Foreign Affairs)



(Total running time: 144 mins)