Le voyage extraordinaire (2011)

Directed by: Serge Bromberg, Eric Lange | 65 minutes | documentary | Starring: Costa-Gravas, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Michel Gondry, Michel Hazanavicius, Nicolas Ricordel, Eric Lange, Tom Burton, Charles Chaplin, Tom Hanks, Georges Méliès, Serge Bromberg

Serge Bromberg, collector and researcher of vintage films, has already caused a furore with ‘L’enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot’, in which he processed the raw material of the French top director into a fascinating film that tells both about ‘Inferno’ itself and its history. behind that disastrous project. With ‘Le voyage extraordinaire’ Bromberg adds another feat to his resume. This time he dives deeper into history, namely to the beginning of cinema.

Anyone with the slightest interest in film history has already come across his name: Georges Méliès (1861-1938). Thanks to Brian Selznick’s book (“The Invention of Hugo Cabret”) and Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation (“Hugo”, 2011), his name has become more meaningful to the younger generations of film buffs. Méliès was a pioneer at heart. When, according to his own account, he attended the legendary first presentation of the Cinématographe by the Lumière brothers on December 28, 1895, he was determined to use the medium of film for his magic shows. He discovered the stop-motion technique through a jammed camera. This was just one of the many tricks he learned to use. Now he is known as the father of special effects.

In ‘Le voyage extraordinaire’ Bromberg not only lets his colleagues speak, he also shows fragments from old Méliès films, such as ‘An impossible balancing act’, ‘The Christmas Dream’, ‘Cinderella’ and ‘The One Man Band’. These fragments are a feast for the eyes (and leave you wanting more). With his documentary, Bromberg tells the career of the talented Frenchman in an engaging manner. For connoisseurs, this part of ‘Le voyage extraordinaire’ does not offer much new under the sun, but the documentary remains fascinating. The question of what drove Méliès to burn his own work (he made more than five hundred films, there are now only about two hundred films left) will always remain unanswered, but ‘Le voyage extraordinaire’ does shed new light this issue. The ‘talking heads’ are Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Michel Gondry, Costa-Gravas and Michel Hazanavicius and their understandable enthusiasm is reflected on the viewer. Also nice are the archive recordings of the interview with Tom Hanks that took place during “From the Earth to the Moon” (1998). But it only becomes really fascinating when it comes to the restoration of the color version of ‘Le voyage dans la lune’, which was ready to premiere in 2011 at the Cannes Film Festival.

The painstaking work that preceded it before we can enjoy ‘Le voyage dans la lune’ in all its glory is truly incredible. In 1993 a colored version of the film was discovered in Spain (until then only a black and white copy was known). The film roll was badly damaged – almost to the moon, so to speak – and it took a lot of inventiveness and courage to separate the film strips. Frame by frame, Eric Lange (co-director of this film) photographed the original film. What patience it took and what passion it expresses. A deep sense of respect for those involved is in order. After the digital capture of the frames, the project was shelved for years, because the technology had not yet advanced to the point where restoration was feasible. Finally, with the help of Tom Burton, the long-cherished wish of many was fulfilled. How could it be otherwise, ‘Le voyage extraordinaire’ ends with the film it is all about: the restored version of ‘Le voyage dans la lune’, set to music by AIR. And that is a true highlight for this engaging documentary.