(Mikrokosmos - Das Volk der Gräser [de] • Microcosmos [en])
France / Switzerland / Italy 1996
d: Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou
Pathe Distribution (Region 2 uk)
sc: Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou
c: Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou, Hugues Ryffel, Thierry Machado (Color)
e: Florence Ricard, Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte
m: Bruno Coulais
p: Christophe Barratier, Yvette Mallet, Jacques Perrin (Agencie Jules Verne / Bac Films / Canal+ / Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) / Crédit Agricole / Delta Images / Eurimages / France 2 Cinéma / Galatée Films / Les Productions JMH / Télévision Suisse-Romande (TSR) / Urania Film)
w: Jacques Perrin, Kristin Scott Thomas
pr: 15 Mai 1996
aw: Cannes Film Festival 1996 Technical Grand Prize • César Awards 1997 Meilleure photographie; Meilleur montage; Meilleure musique; Meilleur producteur; Meilleur son • Flanders International Film Festival 1996 Georges Delerue Prize
rt: 72:25 (+4%PAL= 80) min
dvd-rl: 07 Sep 1997
ar: 1.66:1 (16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen)
sd: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
st: --
supp: 14 selected sequences with added commentaries by the filmmakers
The close-up photography is stunning in this slightly (but not too cutely) anthropomorphic documentary on the lives of the inhabitants of a summer meadow. All insect and invertebrate life is here (ladybird with seven spots, swallowtail butterfly, burgundy snail, ang spider, rhinoceros beetle, red ants) in the daily round of sex, violence, work and conspicuous food consumption, but while the film's technically superb, the mainly wordless format ultimately wears a little thin.
— GA, Time Out Film Guide
