[Here] Pollet made a work that is the very definition of what French critics like to call an ovni or ufo (as in âunidentified filmic objectâ). [It] has been described as being âlike a comet in the sky of French cinema,â an âunknown masterpiece,â and an âunprecedentedâ work that refuses interpretation even as it has provoked reams of critical writing. Its rhythmic collage of images â a girl on a gurney, a fisherman, Greek ruins, a Sicilian garden, a Spanish corrida â is accompanied by an abstract commentary written by Sollers, and only the somber lyricism of Antoine Duhamelâs score holds the filmâs 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 youâre watching something like the filmic channeling of an ancient ritual. â Chris Darke, FILM COMMENT
