The Imaginary Voyage

Directed by legendary filmmaker Rene Clair, “Le Voyage Imaginaire” is full of suggestions in which different genres are mixed (avant-garde, comedy, surrealism) without any real connection. It’s a really bizarre film that relates the complicated relationship between three bank clerks (and their boss) for the typist girl that works with them. Clair creates a dream world which plunges the audience into a universe full of fantasy. There are lady fortunetellers, fairies, classic story characters and even modern heroes such as “Charlot”, not to mention the “Notre Dame” roofs and the museum “Grévin”. Overall it seems to be a kind of deluded fairy tale, extravagant, anxiously exaggerated and very rich in film ideas. That mixed dream world benefits from using all the special effects known at that time (slow motion, double exposure, optical effects) combined with simple backgrounds that are perfect for the formal aspect of the story. It all creates an unreal atmosphere, incredible and dumbfounding at times. —cinestrike.com