Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog

Stars:

Werner Herzog, Jean Clottes, Julien Monney

11 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Werner Herzog	...	Himself / Narrator
Jean Clottes	...	Himself
Julien Monney	...	Himself
Jean-Michel Geneste	...	Himself
Michel Philippe	...	Himself
Gilles Tosello	...	Himself
Carole Fritz	...	Herself
Dominique Baffier	...	Herself
Valerie Feruglio	...	Herself
Nicholas Conard	...	Himself
Maria Malina	...	Herself
Wulf Hein	...	Himself
Maurice Maurin	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Valerie Milenka Repnau	...	(voice)

Storyline

In 1994, a group of scientists discovered a cave in Southern France perfectly preserved for over 20,000 years and containing the earliest known human paintings. Knowing the cultural significance that the Chauvet Cave holds, the French government immediately cut-off all access to it, save a few archaeologists and paleontologists. But documentary filmmaker, Werner Herzog, has been given limited access, and now we get to go inside examining beautiful artwork created by our ancient ancestors around 32,000 years ago. He asks questions to various historians and scientists about what these humans would have been like and trying to build a bridge from the past to the present.

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Plot Keywords:

cave | france | southern france | cave drawing | art history | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook [United Kingdom] Official site

Country:

Canada USA France Germany UK

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

31 August 2011 (France)

Also Known As:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Filming Locations:

Pont d'Arc, Ardèche, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$139,101, 1 May 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$5,234,785, 21 August 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

Creative Differences, History Films, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger in his talk at the Berlinale Talents 2015, the first 20 minutes of the film are shot with two GoPro Hero cameras taped side-to-side (one upside down), because at the time of shooting no 3D-system small enough for the cave shoot was available. The rest of the film was shot on professional, higher-quality 2k 3D-cameras with follow-focus, when they later became available.

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Quotes

Nicholas Conard: I think what's extremely important is that we realize that archeology today is not a heroic adventure with spades and picks, but high tech scientific work that's done with incredible detail.

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Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.16 (2011)

User Reviews

Unforgettable

Don't miss auteur Werner Herzog's memorable documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, about the French Chauvet Cave. It contains the earliest extant art work of humanity from over 30,000 years ago. Paleolithic renderings of animals such as horses, lions, and cave bears, some in motion as if early filmmaking ("a form of proto-cinema," Herzog says) are rendered so lifelike by the film that I'm satisfied to have gotten as close as is possible without damaging the environment.

With special permission from the culture ministry and only a few hours per day, Herzog takes a non-professional 3-D camera and a few scientists and crew into the cave, which was sealed by a landslide some 20, 000 years ago and therefore in pristine shape. So careful are the French that they plan to construct a theme park with exact reproduction of the Cave in order to satisfy the public's natural interest in seeing the drawings but yet keep them from spoiling the treasures with their breaths.

3-D aids appreciation of the curvatures of the caves and the rich dimensions of the drawings, about 400 of them, and the cave-bear fossils and scratches. Ernst Reijseger's understated orchestration complements the lyrical and mysterious world that Herzog's voice cradles.

Because no one is allowed to walk outside the small walkway and few humans will ever enter, an eerie Egyptian tomb-like atmosphere pervades, captured by Herzog's pensive, wistful ruminations about mankind. For the director of such eccentric films as Aguirre: The Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, both about mysteriously powerful humans, and similarly the documentary Grizzly, about an odd bear lover, this film is evidence of the filmmaker's wide-ranging zest for the inscrutable spiritual roots of secular achievement and madness.

Of course, there's the romantic take by the French scientists and narrator Herzog, who all describe hearing the voices of these ancient homo-sapien artists echo in the chambers. Herzog's inscrutable post script, perfectly in character with this out-there director involves nuclear reactors, warm water, and thriving alligators. When you figure out his meaning of the doppelganging albino alligators, write me with your answer, for I'm still trying to figure it out.

Meanwhile, Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a superior documentary with the right combination of visual clarity and authorial insight to make everlastingly memorable the forgotten dreams of our ancestors and ourselves.