Reviewed by Neil Davey
Featuring Kristin Scott Thomas, as narrator, plus a dung beetle,
a water spider, several caterpillars, a few wasps, the occasional
cute little frog, and ants. Lots and lots of ants.
Written by ... well, nature? The deity of your choice?
UK Certification U | UK RRP £17.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 80 minutes
Directed by Claude Nuridsany & Marie Perennou
While subsequent TV series and David Attenborough's ever-increasing output have, no doubt, stolen some of its thunder, Microcosmos is still a stunning movie. A 15-year labour of love for directors Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou, it takes a simple question — what's going on in yonder meadow? — and answers it, as the title sugests, at a microscopic and all round insecty level.
With years of preparation — including, apparently, a couple of years to develop the technology they knew they'd need to film their subject(s), in addition to the three years of actual filming — Nuridsany and Perennou crafted something uterly remarkable, with almost all aspects of life contained therein. There's birth, work, sex, conflict, violence and death: quite frankly, if the film involved human participants rather than insects, it would be an 18 certificate. Or, more likely, given the amount of hot ladybird on ladybird action, sold in plain paper bags from dodgy stores in Soho.
Narration — by Kristin Scott Thomas — is minimal which is lovely in some respects, but slightly frustrating. By focusing on the (glorious) visuals, it often leaves you wondering at just what you're witnessing, which is slightly frustrating. This leaves Microcosmos feeling less like an educational experience (which, admittedly, it wasn't intended to be) and more like a stoner movie. You will learn some things — how snails mate, for example, or that the ant version of Cloverfield would be called Pheasant — but a little more detail wouldn't go amiss. Still, any film which can get you cheering this hard for a dung beetle must be doing something right.
EXTRAS ** For a special edition, it's disappointingly light. The "Special Edition" refers to the fact that it's been remastered and, for a 12-year-old film, it looks great. But, as interesting as the 'making of' documentary and the interview with the directors are, you want more.