City Dawn

By juxtaposing moments so natural that they seem stolen from the city itself, Aube urbaine recreates the stark reality of a winter morning. Narrative fragments are superimposed over beautiful black-and-white shots and spontaneously delivered so as to form a fresco, rendering the true soul of the city and of its inhabitants. In the twilight, the footsteps of a young woman trampling in the snow; a silhouette emerges from the whiteness of a park; a window-washer and a waitress each go about their business; workers wait for the bus. A young solitary woman observes places and people. On a street corner, she picks up a lost glove. A young man writes a letter in a café. Different voices punctuate the images that in turn carry us elsewhere, to another part of the city, to another story. Sung or murmured in Italian, Farsi, Vietnamese, and French, these voices blend into the magnificent images by Michel Lamothe and Serge Giguère. The visual montage evokes a world off-camera as immense as it is elusive, inhabited by subdued people living modest existences. From each of these subjective impressions- anecdotes, humorous reflections, dialogues--emanates a singular burst of reality. This ingenious recording of sounds, images, and narratives piece together parts of the story of humanity. In a sober and unadorned manner, the director unveils the romance and tragedy concealed in everyday conversation. She captures the poetry at the heart of the urban landscape and transfigures it.