Impressions de France
Enjoy this 18-minute film showcasing the grandeur, charm and romance of one of Europe’s most enchanting countries.
“We must go.”
Present since the opening of EPCOT, Impressions de France is a delightful mainstay featuring five movie screens, and even though its film is a bit tattered and the scenes are clearly of another era, it has a certain charm to it that is greatly elevated by its soundtrack composed and compiled by Disney Legend, Buddy Baker. Beginning with the light, playful sounds of “Aquarium” from Camille Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals to a rousing finish with the same composer’s “Symphony no. 3 (Organ Symphony),” blaring as the elevator on the Eiffel Tower ascends to its peak position to look out over the city. The sheer beauty of this film never takes a pause.
Viewers are treated to breathtaking shots amid a hot air balloon festival, gliding up the Loire River to witness the majesty of Chateau de Chenonceau, stepping into the middle of a wedding ceremony in a small church in Brittany, and so much more. Watching an elderly couple walk their dog along the cliffs of Normandy will spark a bit of wanderlust in viewers who may just want to sample the enticing pastries that await in the local markets. The sites just keep on coming, and even to the unfamiliar, France is clearly beckoning the adventurous and/or casual traveler.
Reality Check:
Another composer featured in Impressions de France is Paul Dukas, who guests might know as the creator of “The Sorceror’s Apprentice,” featured in the 1940 Disney film, Fantasia.
Though translations differ slightly, the main poem featured in Impressions de France is Baudelaire’s “The Voyage,” which reads:
“But the true voyagers are only those who leave
Just to be leaving; hearts light, like balloons,
They never turn aside from their fatality
And without knowing why they always say: ‘We must go!’”
The structure that appears nearly halfway through the film is Mont-Saint-Michel, which is a tidal island that remained unharmed during the Hundred Years War. It currently has a population of 29 residents.