The Crazy Ray

René Clair's delightful science-fiction comedy — one of the most inventive and purely enjoyable films of the French avant-garde. A night watchman atop the Eiffel Tower wakes to discover that a mad scientist's ray has frozen the entire population of Paris in mid-motion: a pickpocket's hand hovers in a victim's pocket, a couple embraces on a park bench, the streets are eerily still. The watchman and a handful of other immune survivors — including a thief, a pilot, and a socialite — have the run of the city, and their initial glee gradually gives way to loneliness and boredom. Clair uses the premise to create images of surreal beauty (the frozen Parisian tableaux are extraordinary) while gently satirizing human nature. Witty, inventive, and surprisingly moving, it's the rare avant-garde film that leaves you smiling.