Inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Fluide et mobilité d’un larsen is part of the ballet by Maurice Béjart and Pierre Henry, Le Voyage, which premiered at the Cologne Opera House on 15 April 1962. The music and film take place just after the death, at the moment when the Clear Light appears. According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, if this light is recognised, it frees the Being from the cycle of reincarnations. Disoriented, the Being strives to reach it. Leaps. Leaps that weaken. Black clouds appear, blind him, and slowly plunge him into darkness. Fluide et mobilité d’un larsen is the first film by Thierry Vincens, with which he begins his research on the phenomena of surface tension and fluid mixing. This study will be central to his work and will lead to several other films, including Giraglia, made in 1968, set to “Jerks” by Pierre Henry and Michel Colombier from Maurice Béjart’s ballet Messe pour le temps présent. Fluide et mobilité d’un larsen premiered at the Paris electronic music festival in 1963.
The same year, Maurice Fleuret wrote: “The film projections of Thierry Vincens are more than a sumptuous example of abstract cinema, more than a visual illustration of an inner world whose echo is conveyed to us by music; they truly determine, along with the sonic universe, a lyrical synthesis whose persuasive power is unique in the history of modern art.”

César Barre