Microcosmos (1996)

A documentary on insect life in meadows and ponds.

Directors:

Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou

Writers:

Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou

Stars:

Kristin Scott Thomas, Jacques Perrin

8 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jacques Perrin	...	Récitant / Narrator (French version) (voice)
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Narrator (English version) (voice)

Storyline

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

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Plot Keywords:

underwater scene | meadow | spider | insect | slow motion | 

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Taglines:

15 years of research. 2 years of equipment design. 3 years of shooting. One great movie to restore your sense of wonder.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie's only dialogue is narration at the beginning and end.

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Quotes

Narrator (English version): [beginning narration] A meadow in early morning, somewhere on Earth. Hidden here is a world as vast as our own, where the weeds are like impenetrable jungles, the stones are mountains, and even the smallest pond becomes an ocean. Time passes differently here: an hour is like a day, a day is like a season, and the passing of a season is a lifetime. But to observe this world, we must fall silent now, and listen to its murmurs.

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Crazy Credits

In the end credits: Le Conseil Général de L'Aveyron and SIVOM des Monts et Lacs du Lévezou extend the adventure in the world of insects at the Jean-Henri Fabre Center of Saint-Léons in Lévezou, opening in 1998.

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Connections

Referenced in Roseanne: Hit the Road Jack (1997)

User Reviews

I knew it was unbelievable, but I didn't expect it to be THAT good

I saw the Winged Migration before this one and I though that was the most beautiful and amazing films ever made. I never though I would be proved wrong soon. Microcosmos has everything Winged Migration has, such as amazing cinematography, beautiful music and the best studio ever, our planet, it also has something more - the whole new world to show that most people don't realise exists. "Look at your feet, this funny world." starts the beautiful song while the opening credits roll and we are treated to a beautiful flight through the clouds. The camera pans down, to the forest and then lower still. Thus starts the most amazing journey you ever saw on film and for the next hour you can't take your eyes of the screen.

Palm trees, anakondas, space aliens... Grass and insects actully, but shown in the way you never thought possible. Who would have known that the sight of two snails making tender love is so cute and lovely, that spiders are so scary, dung-beetles are so funny and waterdrops so heavy? Watch how grass grows, flowers open in the morning, insects eat plants, plants eat insects, insects make love to other insects, plants and vice versa, chrysalis change into butterfly, etc., etc. And did I mention tender snail lovemaking? :)

There is whole new world under our feet. Everything so small and so amazingly beautiful at the same time. Don't let it stay unnoticed. Go and watch this film immediately (and see Winged Migration as well).

Details

Country:

France Switzerland Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

6 September 1996 (Switzerland)

Also Known As:

Microcosmos

Filming Locations:

Monts et Lacs du Lévézou, Aveyron, France

Box Office

Budget:

CHF5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$35,189, 13 October 1996

Gross USA:

$1,433,210

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,433,210

Company Credits

Production Co:

Galatée Films, France 2 Cinéma, Canal+

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 75 min (Miramax)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1