Chats perchés
Chris Marker
2004 - 58 min - 35 mm - Couleur - France

With "Chats Perchés", Chris Marker rediscovers the Paris of "Joli Mai", between September 2001 and autumn 2003. His guide, between the events that punctuate this new poetic and political chronicle: Monsieur Chat. This facetious tomcat, grandson of Alice and nephew of Miyazaki, plasters his malicious grin over the walls and the roofs of the Parisian capital.
This treasure hunt, a series of delightful collages, leads us from the French presidential campaign of 2002 to the debate on the Islamic veil, covering the war in Iraq, the crisis caused by the workers in the entertainment industry without steady employment and the jokes of Mr. Raffarin.
But far from a weighty discourse, Marker multiplies the digressions, the veiled references, jokes and witticisms, aided by this virtual but providential companion who appears and vanishes as the occasion demands, but helps him to paint the town red and capture the magic of the moment.