La vie au bout des doigts

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title La vie au bout des doigts
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1983
length 26 minutes
Rod
Director Jean-Paul Janssen

La vie au bout des doigts (German: Life at your fingertips , English: Life at Your Fingertips ) is a French documentary from 1983 by Jean-Paul Janssen about the extreme climber Patrick Edlinger .

content

In this film, Janssen shows in spectacular shots how the French climber Patrick Edlinger climbs along the red rock walls of the cliff coast on the Côte d'Azur , which drop steeply into the Mediterranean, with almost dance-like agility. There he practices the most complicated fingertip grips, because if they don't work here, he only runs the risk of falling into the water.

Edlinger lives in a small white camper with which he drives from rock face to rock face. Janssen films him during morning training: he first jogs a few kilometers, balances on a rope, hangs himself on branches, only dangling at his fingertips, does push-ups, doing split exercises and talks about his philosophy of life, life in the great outdoors, the highly concentrated attempts, to explore the limits of what is humanly possible and, if possible, to exceed them. Correct breathing is of the utmost importance, because he draws the strength from it that he needs when climbing up in order to stay in rhythm.

Then you can see Edlinger concentrating at the foot of a 100 meter high cliff in Buoux , carefully tying his shoes and strapping on the only aid for the ascent: no rope, no hooks, just a bag of lime powder, the so-called magnesia bag , With which he repeatedly rubs his hands and especially his fingertips so as not to slide off the rock. Then follows, accompanied by music by the German band Kraftwerk , the free ascent, with the breathtaking scene in which Edlinger climbs an almost horizontal ledge, on which he hangs over the dizzying abyss, holding on for a few seconds only with his fingertips.

reception

In 1984, Life at the Fingertips was nominated for the César in the category " Best Documentary Short Film ". As the first film about extreme climbing , its success helped this sport to gain worldwide media attention and made Patrick Edlinger a media star overnight. Paris Match magazine dubbed him “the magician of climbing, the dancer in empty space”.

One of the best Indian sport climbers, Mohit Oberoi , raved about this “iconic film” in the Times of India in 2012 and named it in the same breath as Hermann Buhl's book Eight Thousand Above and Below .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patrick Edlinger at Sports.montagnes , French, accessed on September 9, 2012th
  2. ↑ Buoux at Kletterführer.net , accessed on September 9, 2012.
  3. ↑ Nomination aux César 1984 in the catégorie “meilleur film documentaire” , French, accessed on September 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ In the frenzy of instincts. In: Der Spiegel of April 7, 1986 , accessed on September 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ Sport climbing, getting out there (Part II). In: The Times of India, July 16, 2012 , accessed September 9, 2012.