Film info

Creator / Collector

Description
The film shows an excursion to Mont-Saint-Michel, a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France.

The film opens in Paris with a tall building that in neon letters says "Citizen Watches" and shows the time and a distant shot of the Eiffel Tower. The excursion begins and filmmaker shows us the area through the bus he is in, the lush landscape and several cattle. A sign that says it is the place where Sainte Thérèse was born and the view changes with shots from the city.

Traffic on the streets, shops, passers-by, a banner that informs us that we are in the Notre Dame district, on the pedestrian street of the city center. We get back to the bus with the green landscape and the cattle as well as houses arrayed in climbing plants. The filmmaker stands in front of a house which is also photographed by the woman who sits next to him and then shows us the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey from afar. The abbey has been protected as a French monument since 1862. Since 1979, the site as a whole –the Mont Saint-Michel and its bay– has been a UNESCO world heritage site and is managed by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

The bus makes a stop and some people get off among them, the woman with the blue scarf. A shot from the sea and the bus reaches the abbey. Below, behind the walls that surround the abbey, is a small picturesque village. The abbey reached its present form around the 17th-18th century, while at its top of the bell tower there is the famous gilded statue of the Archangel Michael, which is characterized as a masterpiece of Western civilization. The woman photographs the place, buses, a lot of people around and the filmmaker shows us the historical monument.

The lens focuses on a sign that reads “Ville du Mont Saint Michel" and below is a list of hotels and restaurants. Crowds of people, a sign that says they are in the hotel and restaurant “La Mère Poulard”. We see shots from the alleys and the woman who wanders the building complex holding her camera. A panoramic shot of the view and back to the village’s streets with souvenir shops, a sign that says museum entrance, souvenir postcards. The camera shows us stained glass from the church and back in the crowded alleys, people visit the monastery and the woman explores it. We see a shot from above with the wider area.

The film closes with footage from the peristyle of the abbey with the medieval garden it houses and the return of the bus.

Coordinates

Film Information

Holder
Athanasoglou Nikolaos

Quality
2K

Sound
No

Color
Yes

Duration (seconds)
238

Format
Super 8mm