Story (FID 2003) and Cosmonaut Polyakov (FID 2007) were the first two parts of a trilogy concluded by this new film. Whereas we were to meet unusual characters in the previous titles, we are now invited to explore the collective dimension of this epic tale. We are suddenly sent into space with gentle rocking images from the many flights carried out by international spaceship crews over the past thirty years. The film also features the daily chore routine and comical sketches, such as the one starring a waggish astronaut doing acrobatics with an airborne water bubble. What is living in space like? Many answers – written in white colour over black title cards – are sprinkled throughout the film in addition to the somewhat silent archive images. They are the results of many hours of interviews unveiling wonders, doubts and fears. The other side of heroism is gradually revealed beneath anonymous, voiceless words that establish the adventure’s collective dimension. Ambivalent feelings take shape, for ‘once you go to space, you never know if you will be back’, as one of the title cards reminds us. (FIDMarseille)
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