An inventor and astronaut (Michel Boschet) constructs a spaceship out of spare parts while an owl watches. The ship looks a little like a submarine and has two periscopes that the astronaut uses as a viewer. He flies around on his ship and spies on a half-naked woman through a window. He then flies over a tyrant (Philippe Lifchitz) who is standing in a convertible car and waving at a crowd of onlookers. He knocks the tyrant’s hat off and basically annoys everyone.
He then flies off into space and becomes involved in a battle between two spaceships from different countries. In helping one of the ships, he ends up becoming a target himself.
“Les Astronautes” AKA “The Astronauts” was released in 1959. It was written by Walerian Borowczyk and was directed by Walerian Borowczyk and Chris Marker. It is an avant garde science fiction animated mostly silent French twelve-minute short film done in the collage style. Some see it as homage to French film pioneer Georges Méliès and an influence on the style that Terry Gilliam would pursue during his Monty Python days and beyond.
The owl was named Anabase and it belonged to Chris Marker. According to Marker, he did nothing except loan his owl to the production. Also, according to Marker, the only reason he is credited is because Borowczyk did not have a French work permit at the time. Borowczyk was from Poland. This was his first film endeavor after immigrating to France.
Interpretation of the film varies depending on who is reviewing it. Borowczyk would go on to create the most artistic smut you ever saw in your life.