L'âge atomique

placeholder

L’ÂGE ATOMIQUE follows what begins as a pleasure-seeking journey into Parisian night life and ends in abandonment and disillusionment in a remote forest at dawn. What are Victor and Rainer looking for when they take a train into the seemingly claustrophobic centre of Paris at night? The artificial paradise of a night club, amusement, sex, drugs, but also oblivion. Full of profound sadness and gloom, this is not the Paris of rationality and light, but a latently dangerous place where tedium, frustration and boredom, ephemeral flirtations and chance encounters can suddenly turn into aggression, violence and emotional breakdown. We follow the friends on their trip through the night which becomes increasingly charged with an unexpressed eroticism through gay gestures and prolonged eye contact. Thematically as well as formally, L’ÂGE ATOMIQUE is reminiscent of films by Robert Bresson, or even Gus Van Sant. Throughout all this, the director, Héléna Klotz, does not pretend to fully understand her characters – something fundamental and mysterious remains which defies explanation – but invites us to take a closer look at objects and people.

details

  • Runtime

    67 min
  • Country

    France
  • Year of Presentation

    2012
  • Year of Production

    2011
  • Director

    Héléna Klotz
  • Cast

    Eliott Paquet, Dominik Wojcik, Niels Schneider, Mathilde Bisson, Clémence Boisnard, Luc Chessel, Arnaud Rebotini, Cécilia Ranval
  • Production Company

    KIDAM, Paris
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film

Biography Héléna Klotz

Born in 1979 in Paris. Her first short film, LE LÉOPARD NE SE DEPLACE JAMAIS SANS SES TACHES, was screened at the Locarno Film Festival and won awards in Aix-enProvence, Pantin and Créteil. Alongside her own projects, she also works for the Cahiers du Cinéma website and in casting.

Filmography Héléna Klotz

2004 Le léopard ne se déplace jamais sans ses taches (Short) | 2008 Les amants cinéma (Documentary) | 2017 Dolphin Moves