La Traversee Des Monts Noirs

While crossing Russia’s Black Mountains in a snowstorm, an “ice-breaker” train conveys a group of ornithologists to a bird reserve where an ornithology symposium is to be held. Among the travellers, a migratory bird expert and his young female assistant arouse the curiosity of a mysterious Frenchman. Although he speaks Russian, this unusual observer conceals this fact from those on whom he is spying, taking note of whatever is said within his hearing during this rough crossing, as well as during his stay on the Reserve.In the centre of this Reserve stands the Planetarium – a miniature reproduction of the cosmos. Its artificial constellation sky makes it possible to dupe the imprisoned warblers and to observe the flying impulses which lead them to head from there towards Israel. As the scientists participating in this symposium begin a series of discussions, the French narrator – omnipresent yet silent – will share a host of interweaving stories, as well as the questions being raised by those who – as in the bygone days of Le Rêve de D'Alembert – are still trying to make sense of the world’s senselessness.