Euphoria
1968 · 8m · Canada
Directed by Arnold Saba
Genres: experimental, fantasy, surrealism
Tones: sensual, surreal, whimsical
Young women in bright gowns bounce on a large red ball and roam wooded hills in soaring, gravity-defying leaps. Special effects turn pure motion into a surreal fantasy of escape.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's pretty, it's weird, it exists—but there's no real friction here, just aesthetic mood-boarding dressed up as subversion. The surrealism feels inherited rather than genuinely unhinged.
Saba's command of in-camera technique and compositional grace situates this firmly within the tradition of structuralist cinema and the NFB's experimental lineage; the way weightlessness becomes both formal and emotional accomplishment rewards close viewing.
The decision to shoot the women's leaps practically—to commit to real bodies in real space rather than animate the escape—grounds the fantasy in physical conviction and makes the surrealism feel earned rather than imposed.