Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Start your free trial

Already subscribed? Sign in

The Song of Styrene (Le chant du styrène)

Alain Resnais • 13m

Directed by Alain Resnais • Documentary • 1957 • 13 minutes

Recently restored and digitized in 2K!

THE SONG OF STYRENE is the perfect example of how to turn a commissioned industrial film into a lyrical, satirical film masterpiece. When the young Alain Resnais was asked by the Péchiney plastics giant to make a short documentary on polystyrene, “that noble, entirely man-made matter,” Resnais sensed a rapport between Alexandrine verse and CinemaScope. With text by Raymond Queneau and music by Pierre Barbaud, THE SONG OF STYRENE is a beautiful, surrealist film.

“If the short film did not exist, Alain Resnais surely would have invented it.” —Jean-Luc Godard

Tags
alain resnais, business, communication and media studies, europe, expository, film and video studies, film history, france, french, icarus films, labor and economics, manufacturing, ovid, plastic, science, science and technology, sectors, short film, styrene, technology, the song of styrene, western europe, world regions

Up Next in Alain Resnais

  • Van Gogh
    18:50
    Van Gogh

    Van Gogh

    Directed by Alain Resnais • Documentary • 1948 • 18 minutes

    Classic French New Wave director Alain Resnais’ early film, VAN GOGH won an Oscar for best short documentary film. Recently restored, this 1948 boundary-pushing short brilliantly evokes the life of Vincent Van Gogh, using only his paint...

×