Paris est à nous (Paris is Us), one of Netflix's first original releases in France, was also director Elisabeth Vogler’s debut feature. Adventurous and gorgeously shot, it’s a dreamy film that, much like its central character Anna (Versailles’ Noémie Schmidt), is concerned with experiences and sensations, prioritizing exploration without the need for a clear destination. 

Its title sequence, designed by motion designer Nina-lou Giachetti and a small Paris-based team, embodies this indecision and abstract searching. Noisy textures and indefinite shapes abound, encouraging ideas of human forms, intimacy and distance. A shoulder, a collarbone, two cheeks rounding towards each other. There’s a dash of German Absolute film influence here, a nod to Walter Ruttman’s Opus animation experiments of the 1920s.

The music by Jean-Charles Bastion and Laurent Garnier is at first delicate and circular, a smattering of synthesizers and strings, held fast by low notes stretching out like horns calling across dense fog. After an ominous minute, the colour arrives, deep red, and with it a throbbing bass beat, the shapes wrapping up into a rotating iris. Altogether, it’s a solidly realized piece of motion design, an exciting artistic choice for a first-time director and a fascinating breath of fresh air.