La petite illusion

A little story of passions is told in la petite illusion heavy breathing garnished by a jazzy bass line a kiss a woman falls into water at night While the works title is an ironic reference to Jean Renoirs 1937 La grande illusion the association is a dead end Neither the images nor the soundtrack contains a direct quotation of Renoirs pacifist fable nor is a similar motif touched upon The patina of early sound film which is celebrated in la petite illusion stands as the sole vague connection to the grand illusion the sound and the look the aesthetic stereotypes of Francophone cinema made between the wars Michaela Schwentners chromatically ascetic electronic manipulation of found sounds and images is a study of emotional images from the history of cinema which is carefully kept in the air