Paris mon petit corps est bien las de ce grand monde

Myope (‘myopic’) and Lunettes (‘glasses’), both played by the maker, Franssou Prenant, live in Paris and experience the same feeling of isolation and fear of the outside world. Their reaction to these feelings are however contradictory: Myope is a rebel, always out to defend herself against ‘external’ reality, while Lunettes observes the world and eventually accepts it for what it is. From the window of their apartment they look at Agathe and Pierrot, two inseparable kids who love each other, but do not express these feelings. Are they real, or do they only exist in the imagination of both women? The film dissects the relationships between the various characters and reveals the many barriers around them, something that is beautifully expressed in the film material used: Myope and Lunettes are filmed on Super-8, Agathe and Pierrot on 16mm. The coarse grain and the fuller colours of Super-8 evoke an unpolished, authentic mood, while the sharper and cooler 16mm material is more stylised and emphasises the element of fiction. A contrary cut stresses the two confusing personalities of Myope and Lunette in the same body of the director. Franssou Prenant: ‘The narrative thread through the film is emotion. Paris is regarded as a character, just as we look at Agathe and Pierrot, who are wrestling with time and are subjected to the contrasting looks of Myope and Lunettes.’