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A silent struggle
The film follows in the footsteps of Microcosmos (1996), famous for its poetic plunge into the world of insects, but here transposes this approach to the marine environment. The camera captures with almost choreographic precision the dramas and survival strategies of marine creatures: lobsters, congresses, octopuses, crabs, limpets, sharks, hermit crabs and gulls, all caught up in a silent struggle dictated by the implacable rhythm of the tides.
This "miniature odyssey" is based on several key themes:
A natural in camera experience: every low tide becomes a closed stage where prey and predators clash for three hours of survival.
A sensory staging: light, sound and slow motion transform raw material into a ballet of beauty and cruelty.
An ecological reading: beyond the spectacular, the film evokes the fragility of coastal ecosystems in the face of global warming, highlighting how environmental upheavals are redefining the rules of this underwater world.
The directors' intentions
The filmmakers wanted to offer a radical immersion in the Breton foreshore, abandoning the overhanging viewpoint and adopting that of the animals themselves. The aim is to physically convey the constraints of the environment âeuros heat, evaporation, salinity, oxygen depletion âeuros and the dramatic pressure that increases as time passes and the ocean is slow to return. This formal choice transforms an everyday natural phenomenon into an odyssey, where each real creature becomes the protagonist of a story in its own right.
Beyond the spectacular, the film also takes a concerned look at the fragility of this ecosystem. Temperature variations, changes in salinity and biological imbalances observed on the foreshore are presented as a sensitive mirror of global warming. With no didactic discourse, the film encourages awareness through wonder and emotional closeness to these often little-known species.
The Foreshore, like you've never seen it before!
- Director: Alexis Barbier-Bouvet Manuel Lefèvre
- Country: France
- Year: 2023
- Running time: 91 minutes
- Available until 23/03/2026 on Arte TV.
