Les temps morts (1965) User Reviews

The brutality of man

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 21 July 2016]

Rene Laloux and Roland Topor, the creative team behind the sci-fi cult classic "Fantastic Planet," here offer a grimly fascinating meditation on mankind's alarming capacity for death, violence, and destruction. Loaded with clips or photos of children playing with guns, wartime atrocities, bullfights, public executions, and people hunting and killing fish and birds, plus morbid illustrations of skulls, mangled bodies, and wounded folks, this short makes a startling statement about how violence is a vicious continual cycle with no seeming end or purpose to it. Moreover, the narration cynically notes that man after he's finished committing all kinds of savage acts nonetheless still shows respect for and mourns the dead. Granted, this sure isn't a comforting viewing experience, but it's definitely a powerful and provocative one.

The violence of man

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 10 April 2013]

In this short animated feature man is observed from afar, possibly from the point of view of aliens. It is not a pleasant portrait sadly. Humankind's warmongering and violent ways are what stand out to these observers.

This is another strange feature from René Laloux, the creator of Fantastic Planet. It has a very downbeat feel, the music is mournful and the narrator describes many awful aspects of about the human race. There is a mixture of media used – real footage, stills and animation. They are combined together to highlight the theme of death and violence. There are children playing at soldiers and war footage. An animated death procession over a surreal landscape, stills of bizarre macabre images, such as figure with holes blown out of them, bodies with limbs missing and lots of skulls. We see man abusing the other creatures he shares his planet with - killing fish, shooting birds and bullfighting; while the circle of death is completed when killers are murdered by the state in scenes of capital punishment. It's certainly another bizarre item from Laloux and should appeal to his admirers.

Very dark and very true

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 29 July 2016]

"Les temps morts" is a 10-minute animated short film from 1965, so it had its 50th anniversary last year already. The writer and director here is René Laloux and it's one of his more known works today still. I have seen some of his stuff recently and I must say that this is a contender for best (short) film by him so far for me. It's far from perfect and the statements it makes on mankind are sometimes really extremely general and the film maybe lacks some focus too, but it rings all very true nonetheless. The problems depicted with men, wars and violence are still existent over half a century later and that's pretty sad. We have learned nothing. Oh well, at least Laloux is dead now and does not have to witness the misery anymore. This black-and-white short film here tells me that he was a visionary. I certainly recommend the watch.

mankind's brutality, real deaths and surrealism, or something like that

[FieCrier · 15 May 2009]

A very strange film! Begins with a shot of a planet, followed by footage of Asian children playing in the streets with guns, and then footage of war. Then it switches to illustrations, black and white pen & ink drawings the camera moves over, people in various states of undress and dismemberment. Much of it is not animated, but some animation follows. Not entirely surreal, but somewhat. For example, a man rides a dead horse, the horse's front and hind legs being carried by two other men, following a man with a castle for hair. Back to actual footage, snorkelers fishing, riflery, bullfighting. More painterly style illustrations follow, men and women in the act of stabbing and shooting. More primitive animations, a woman in lingerie inhabiting a house made out of suitcases that each jail men's decapitated heads. Photographs of people being guillotined, hung, beheaded, electrocuted.

There's a French narrator, I wish I knew what he was saying!

powerful, if preachy, animated short

[framptonhollis · 7/10 · 31 July 2017]

Created by the director-animator duo that gave us "Fantastic Planet" eight years later, "Dead Times" is a really depressing look at mankind's many shortcomings. Like "Fantastic Planet", he animation is surreal and stylistic and the message is fairly obvious and preachy, but it is still a powerful message nonetheless and it is told in an extraordinarily powerful way. There are images in this film that are not only stunningly crafted, but also absolutely haunting, not to mention brilliant, captivating, and uniquely beautiful in their own, off putting way.

There isn't MUCH actual animation, however, it is mostly a series of still drawings interspliced with archive footage of man's cruelty with a few sequences that actually feature the aforementioned drawings. The film is narrated by a cold, sometimes sarcastic man whose message is simple: man is a species dominated by violence and cruelty. A dark message, but one that will likely continue to ring true until the end of time (sorry for the lack of optimism, there is love in the world too, don't worry too much).