Anima is my science fiction version of the Orpheus myth - with Eurydice going through Hades. There is no dialogue and all weighty themes are touched on in a series of symbols which are intended to be suggestive and to not slow the action in any way. The story falls into three parts. THE CAVE Anima comes out of the sky. Piloting a spacecraft she is the stranger from another land come to the walls of an ancient civilisation. The craft flies through the middle letter of the huge inscribed word above the main gateway (Subtitled 'Atlantis') and enters the huge cavern beyond. Passing through the maze of caves and waterways her craft comes to rest at a stone stairway, where Anima now steps out. She looks up at the massive overhanging skull-like rock as she ascends the seemingly endless flight. The steps alter from narrow rock to wide polished marble as she nears her goal: the library. She enters this repository for human wisdom which is also the archive for all souls. Anima searches for, and finds, one particular name and records the adjacent symbols. This sequence, or number, is the unique signature or DNA for every individual. With this secure she returns to the lower depths and back to her craft. She is entirely unaware that her visit has been observed throughout by a higher power - a power that now acts to prevent her leaving. EARTH AND FIRE Escaping from the cavern through a waterfall Anima has more battles ahead. This section is very sci-fi with the whole panoply of atomic power, laser beams, underground tunnels etc. and is designed to demonstrate Anima's extraordinary spirit and tenacity. From time to time her difficult progress is observed by the higher power through a looking glass - a hi-tech version of the fairy tale device.THE CITY Our heroine emerges from the Underworld into a desolate post-nuclear wasteland, a great distance from where she started. Determined as ever she flies towards the the glowing lights in the distance until she reaches a city. This is my comic book version of a futuristic city, as old-fashioned as I could make it. It is here that Anima uses the number gained from the library and we are reminded of her mission: to find someone. With the use of Atlantean technology she is directed again and again to the very heart of the city: the tall central building. This is a glass castle but, with the number, not an impregnable one. The man with the looking glass, who all along has resisted her coming, is now utterly powerless to halt her progress. As she uses the code to access his chamber he can only gaze through the window. As the camera pulls back we see that this city has at its limits the ancient colonnade where we began. CINEMATIC INFLUENCES Alphaville (Goddard) Lemmy Caution is the stranger from another world in search of someone. Orphee (Cocteau) Orpheus, a contemporary poet, is determined to be reunited with his dead wife. Duel (Spielberg) A huge lorry becomes a mythical beast to be slain. Alien (Ridley Scott) Ripley has to use every ounce of courage to defeat her nemesis. BladeRunner (Ridley Scott) Scott has given us the most compelling vision of a future city. Aelita (Yakov Protazanov) Effective use of constructivist architecture.