Le ciel sur la tête

In fact I saw this film when it came out and I was a teenager. Of course it was rather conceived as an "advertisment" for the French aircrafts (Mirage) and the carrier "Clemenceau" to show how good they were (or would be) to face a nuclear threat ! No special effects were used in the film of course and the "threat" was only suggested - nothing to do with later films showing alien monsters ! What I liked was an almost "documentary" description of life on board - a floating city as we used to say -which was rather rare in those days because of the "cold war". Unfortunately it seems this movie does not exist on DVD and even here in Europe it's never shown on TV.

The plot is simple: a naval aviator leaves his girlfriend in Paris on an urgent call to his carrier, something big is in the making, is it the Russians? Eventually the threat - from outer space - is repelled and the pilot returns home. I saw this movie as a teenager, in Poland, I remember the uncanny realism of the way the story was told, the direction was restrained, concentrating on "facts". There was stark contrast between the suspense of the hunt for the unknown enemy and the daily life of the people in Paris, unaware of the drama at sea. I remember leaving the theater, looking up, making sure it was all just a movie.... I've been trying to see this film ever since - in theaters, on VHS, DVD - without success, it seems all forgotten and neglected.