Festival du Cinéma muet d'Anères: Paris that sleeps

Festival du Cinéma muet d'Anères: Paris that Sleeps – 1925 French silent film by René Clair, restored in 4K in 2018 by the Jérôme Seydoux‑Pathé Foundation at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory with support from the CNC. Running 1 hour 07 minutes, this whimsical surrealist gem stars Henri Rollan, Albert Préjean and Madeleine Rodrigue, with an accordion accompaniment by Virgile Goller and a soaring soprano saxophone and bass clarinet solo by Laurent Rochelle. Originally titled **Le Rayon Diabolique** for its 1480 m film release, the movie premiered after the success of *Entr’acte* at the Théâtre des Champs‑Élysées in 1924, yet it remained largely unseen until the 2018 restoration brought it back to vibrant life. Follow the night watchman of the Eiffel Tower as he wakes to a city frozen at 3:25 a.m., with every street, monument and clock suspended in eerie stillness. Five travelers, suspended in the airwork of a late‑night flight, share the same fate. The film invites viewers to imagine Paris stripped of its bustle, its lights extinguished, its public and mechanical life snuffed out—a dreamlike tableau created by a 25‑year‑old René Clair after a night‑time epiphany in November 1922, shot the following summer. Though initially overlooked and criticized by its own creator, this poetic and burlesque jewel has earned renewed admiration for its innovative visual effects and Clair’s early, enchanting directorial voice.