Painlevé considers the shrimp in this 11-minute documentary about the sea creature best served with garlic and butter... although that aspect is never considered.
After a brief, burlesque opening, this short covers the shrimp, its appearance, and its life cycle in typical form for Painlevé's documentaries. Yet the language is different. Most of his better documentaries come off as lectures by a university professor, filled with scientific terms and informed with a dark sense of humor. The narration for this one is quite different. Only a few technical terms are used. Instead, the language is poetic, filled with adjectives, adverbs, gerunds and extended metaphors.... blank verse. It argues a love for the creature that his he does not show for his other subjects. Perhaps with horseradish and a squirt of lemon.
After a brief, burlesque opening, this short covers the shrimp, its appearance, and its life cycle in typical form for Painlevé's documentaries. Yet the language is different. Most of his better documentaries come off as lectures by a university professor, filled with scientific terms and informed with a dark sense of humor. The narration for this one is quite different. Only a few technical terms are used. Instead, the language is poetic, filled with adjectives, adverbs, gerunds and extended metaphors.... blank verse. It argues a love for the creature that his he does not show for his other subjects. Perhaps with horseradish and a squirt of lemon.