Undo
2005 · 9m
Directed by Jean-Gabriel Périot
Genres: essay film, experimental
Tones: contemplative, dark, provocative
An archive montage runs the history of humanity in reverse — from an exploding sun and cosmic chaos backwards through the ages — unmaking the world in a film made for Canal+’s “10 minutes pour refaire le monde” collection.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Périot's decision to *reverse* humanity instead of remaking it is genuinely perverse—takes the whole 'refaire le monde' brief and inverts it into something darker than the assignment probably asked for, which is exactly why it works.
A formally rigorous essay film that positions itself squarely in the experimental archive tradition—the reverse chronology is not gimmick but rigorous methodology, and the editing discipline required to unmake the world backwards shows a filmmaker thinking in pure cinema.
The choice to archive-montage backward rather than forward is the fulcrum: it lets Périot do maximum work with found material, making constraint into singular vision—nine minutes that feel both economical and expansive because of how precisely that one structural inversion lands.
Reviews
Jean-Gabriel Périot fait partie de ces artistes engagés dont le regard sur le monde sait saisir votre conscience. Son film « Undo » contribue à alimenter une filmographie sans concession qui place inlassablement, dans un pessimisme lucide, l'Homme face à la responsabilité de sa civilisation.