Stéphane Scharlé brings a silent classic alive at the Alliance Française of Madras

Set in Paris, the film follows Albert, a night watchman who wakes atop the Eiffel Tower to find the city mysteriously immobilised by a mad scientist’s ray. What unfolds is a city without motion, time or consequence, explored through images from the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Élysées to Place de la Concorde and the Opéra Garnier. Restored in 4K by the Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation, this early work of science fiction in French cinema still retains its beauty and social satire — a reflection on freedom, power and human conscience in times of conflict.