''Microcosmos'' (french: Microcosmos: Le peuple de l'herbe, lit=Microcosmos: People of the grass) is a 1996

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

written and directed by Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou and produced by

Jacques Perrin Jacques Perrin (born Jacques André Simonet; 13 July 1941 – 21 April 2022) was a French actor and film producer. He was occasionally credited as Jacques Simonet. Early life Jacques André Simonet was born on the Boulevard Port-Royal in P ...

. An international co-production of France, Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom, the film showcases detailed interactions between insects and other small invertebrates, and features music by

Bruno Coulais Bruno Coulais (born 13 January 1954) is a French composer, most widely known for his music on film soundtracks. Life and career Coulais was born in Paris; his father, Farth Coulais, is from Vendée, and his mother, Bernsy Coulais, was born in ...

. The film was screened out of competition at the

1996 Cannes Film Festival The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996. The Palme d'Or went to '' Secrets & Lies'' by Mike Leigh. The festival opened with ''Ridicule'', directed by Patrice Leconte and closed with '' Flirting with Disaster'', directed by ...

Synopsis

''Microcosmos'', unlike a number of other nature documentaries, does not feature narration for most of its runtime, incorporating only two brief passages of narration. In the French-language version of the film, these passages are narrated by producer

, while in the English version, Kristin Scott Thomas serves as narrator.

Reception

Critical response

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave ''Microcosmos'' four out of four stars, calling it "...an amazing film that allows us to peer deeply into the insect world and marvel at creatures we casually condemn to squishing."

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "this quick, captivating film offers a taste of the exotic to viewers of any stripe (or spot). And it's a breathtaking reminder that Mother Nature remains the greatest special effects wizard of all." On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 33 critics, with an average rating of 8.4/10.

Box office

The film has grossed $52.8 million against a budget of $3.8 million.

Awards and nominations

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

(France) **Won: Best Cinematography (Thierry Machado, Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou and Hugues Ryffel) **Won: Best Editing (Florence Ricard and Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte) **Won: Best Music (Bruno Coulais) **Won: Best Producer (Jacques Perrin) **Won: Best Sound (Philippe Barbeau and Bernard Leroux) **Nominated: Best Film **Nominated: Best First Work (Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou) **Nominated: Best Sound (Laurent Quaglio)

References

External links

* * 1996 films Documentary films about nature French documentary films Documentary films about insects Films about frogs Films without speech Films set in France 1990s children's fantasy films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1996 documentary films Non-narrative films Georges Delerue Award winners 1990s avant-garde and experimental films Films scored by Bruno Coulais Films about arthropods 1990s French films {{nature-documentary-film-stub