I was quite shocked by everything in this film. It’s of a much higher scale, not only because of its formal boldness, but also because of its impressive inner cohesion, spiritual ambition and total surrender to the language of the sensorial. It’s as if the film rises not from a narrative intention but from an inner psychological impulse — symbolic rather than narrative — a gesture of expression that requires no cause or consequence, only rhythm, light, shadow and breath.…

1931