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La Petite Mort

Gary Oldman narrates and Judith Godreche stars in photographer Alex Prager's suspenseful and surreal exploration of the moment when "pain turns into pure ecstasy, a spiritual release," or what the French call La Petite Mort.

Released on 2/11/2013

Credits

Starring: Gary Oldman and Judith Godreche

Transcript

00:06
(dramatic music)
00:20
[Narrator] Her mother once told her
00:22
that during childbirth she felt an unbearable pain.
00:27
A feeling closer to death than she had ever known.
00:31
Then suddenly, a calm came over her.
00:34
The pain turned into pure ecstasy,
00:38
a spiritual release.
00:41
The French have a name for this feeling.
00:45
They call it...
00:51
(train rumbling)
01:10
(train whistle blowing)
01:23
(metal clanging)
01:30
(metal screeching)
01:35
(thudding)
01:50
(water splashing)
02:00
(somber music)
02:57
(grass rustling)
03:05
(water babbling)
03:18
(dramatic music)
05:05
It has been said that the act of dying,
05:08
the act of transcendent love,
05:11
are two experiences cut from the same cloth.
05:15
The former, a grand exit.
05:18
The latter, a slow escape.
05:21
Man's closest moment to seeing God.
05:32
(melancholic music)