---
title: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"
year: 2010
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/cave-of-forgotten-dreams"
fi1m_id: "cave-of-forgotten-dreams"
imdb_id: "tt1664894"
tmdb_id: 59490
wikidata_id: "Q582979"
fi1m_score: 80
critics_score: 79
critics_reviews: 21
published: "2026-09-27T08:14:48.543541+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-27T08:14:49.436342+00:00"
region: "IN"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Directed by Werner Herzog · 1h 30m · Documentary

## Identity

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/cave-of-forgotten-dreams
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** cave-of-forgotten-dreams
- **IMDb ID:** tt1664894
- **TMDB ID:** 59490
- **Wikidata ID:** Q582979
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/59490, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q582979

**Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 79 from 21 reviews

*In a sentence:* Thirty-two-thousand-year-old lions in 3D, a man in reindeer skins with a bone flute, and Herzog asking the rock what it dreams

> Herzog takes a 3D camera into a cave nobody else may enter and comes back with the closest thing to a time machine the cinema has managed. The film around the paintings is looser, and the score will not let a silence alone.

## Synopsis

Southern France, the Ardèche gorge. In 1994 three cavers found a way into a limestone cave near the Pont d’Arc that a rockfall had sealed some 20,000 years earlier. Inside were hundreds of paintings, horses, lions, rhinoceroses and bears, around 32,000 years old, and the authorities shut the door on them almost at once. Werner Herzog is let in with a small crew and a 3D camera, for a few hours at a time, and may not step off a narrow metal walkway. He films what he can and talks to the people who study the place: Dominique Baffier, who looks after the cave; Jean Clottes; Jean-Michel Geneste, who leads the research; and Michel Philippe, who knows the cave bears whose skulls still lie on the floor.

## Review

Werner Herzog has taken a 3D camera into a cave closed to everyone else and come back with forty minutes of the most remarkable footage we have seen in the format. The Chauvet cave, in the Ardèche gorge in southern France, was found in 1994 and sealed almost at once. Its walls carry horses, lions, rhinoceroses and bears drawn around 32,000 years ago, and a rockfall sealed it some 20,000 years before anyone found it, so bear skulls and charcoal still lie where they fell. Roughly half of its 90 minutes is the cave, and that half is why you should see it.

The other half is Herzog being Herzog. He interviews the scientists, asks them whether the painters dreamed, and meets a perfumer who sniffs the hillside for hidden caves. Some of it is wonderful, some is padding, and Ernst Reijseger’s score sits on top of nearly all of it. The film is good, often better than good. It would be better still with the music off for ten minutes.

Peter Zeitlinger’s camera does something we had not seen 3D do. The paintings sit on bulges and folds of limestone, and the artists used the rock: a horse’s neck runs along a ridge, a lion’s shoulder sits on a swelling and seems to turn away from you. Flat, this is a curiosity you have to be told about. In 3D you simply see it, and when Zeitlinger moves a lamp across the surface the shadows travel and the animals seem to shift. Herzog suggests the painters worked by firelight and meant them to move; the footage bears him out.

We had expected to be interested and were instead moved, and it was the panel of horses that did it: four heads, one above the other, mouths open, drawn with a confidence no first attempt could have. Somebody stood where the walkway now runs and knew exactly what they were doing, and then the door shut for 20,000 years. Herzog holds on it and says nothing.

The scientists are good company. Dominique Baffier, who looks after the cave, and Jean-Michel Geneste, who leads the research, talk about it like people who know they are lucky. Jean Clottes gets closest to what Herzog is after. Wulf Hein turns up in reindeer skins with a bone flute and plays a tune on it that no ice-age hunter would recognise.

The trouble is the surround. Reijseger’s score, cello and voices and organ, is lovely for a minute and then it is on every shot. Herzog asks the crew for silence so we can hear the cave, and the film lays a heartbeat under the quiet, which it should not have done. The editors, Maya Hawke and Joe Bini, return to the same walls several times; by the third pass over the lions we knew the shot. The 3D is dark in the wider views.

Set against his own documentaries this is tamer than [*Grizzly Man*](https://film.one/film/grizzly-man) (2005) or *Encounters at the End of the World* (2007), because the cave sets the rules and he cannot break them. That suits him. He is at his best when something enormous and indifferent is in front of him and all he can do is look. Here it is a wall, and it is 32,000 years old, and he looks.

See it in 3D; the point of the film is depth, and flat, at home, it becomes a slideshow of good photographs with a cello underneath. Certificate U, 90 minutes, and a postscript, set some way from the cave, that you will either love or want cut. We wanted it cut.

*Fi1m score 80, published 27 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics are won over, and the praise gathers in one place: the paintings themselves and Herzog’s decision to film them in 3D. Review after review says the format earns its keep here, letting the animals follow the curve of the rock so their depth and texture register as they could not flat. Herzog’s narration and the odd questions he puts to his scientists are counted among the pleasures, and Variety singles out Ernst Reijseger’s music for its mood of awe.

The reservations are about the man rather than the cave. Several find his metaphysical musings reach too far, and the more measured reviews call the film overlong and repetitive, the slow scans of the walls wearing thin. The Independent objects to a heartbeat laid over a moment of silence, and Slant finds the 3D often dark and unnatural. The spread runs from full marks to the mid-fifties, with no outright dismissals, and a recurring line even among admirers that this is not Herzog at his best.

## Straight answers

**Is Cave of Forgotten Dreams worth watching?**

*Cave of Forgotten Dreams* is worth watching for anyone curious about the oldest paintings anyone has found, and we scored it 80. The forty minutes inside the Chauvet cave are the best 3D footage we have seen, so see it in 3D if you can. The scenes around the cave are looser, and Ernst Reijseger's score rarely lets a silence alone.

**How long is Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and what is it rated?**

*Cave of Forgotten Dreams* runs 1h 30m. It is a documentary film.

**Where can I watch Cave of Forgotten Dreams in India?**

*Cave of Forgotten Dreams* is not on any streaming or rental service in India at the moment. It is available in 13 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How does Cave of Forgotten Dreams compare to Grizzly Man?**

*Cave of Forgotten Dreams* is the calmer of the two Herzog documentaries, because the cave sets the rules and he cannot break them. [*Grizzly Man*](https://film.one/film/grizzly-man) is funnier and more disturbing, built from Timothy Treadwell's own footage of a man whose love of bears outran his judgement. Choose the cave for wonder, the bears for character; both find Herzog looking at something enormous and indifferent.

**What should I watch after Cave of Forgotten Dreams?**

After *Cave of Forgotten Dreams*, try [*Grizzly Man*](https://film.one/film/grizzly-man) (2005, Fi1m 85): Herzog looking at something enormous and indifferent, this time with teeth. Then [*Nostalgia for the Light*](https://film.one/film/nostalgia-for-the-light) (2010, Fi1m 83): Guzmán’s Chilean desert, where astronomers and grieving women both dig into the past; and [*Sans Soleil*](https://film.one/film/sans-soleil) (1983, Fi1m 82): Chris Marker’s essay film: a narrator who wonders aloud and earns it.

### Reviews we read (21)

- **Time Out**, Ben Walters (5/5): The review text is unavailable, so its overall verdict cannot be established. The visible metadata offers no specific praise or criticism. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/cave-of-forgotten-dreams)
- **Empire**, Adam Smith (90/100, inferred): Smith finds the documentary astonishing, mesmerizing and profoundly absorbing. He especially praises Herzog’s use of 3D to bring the cave paintings to life, while noting that his philosophical musings may turn off some viewers. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/cave-forgotten-dreams-3d-review/)
- **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (A-): Kohn finds the film an extraordinary production feat, though he notes that one section briefly dulls its sense of wonder. He praises the immersive 3D presentation of the cave paintings and their mysterious beauty. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/werner-herzog-cave-of-forgotten-dreams-54344/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (90/100, inferred): Turan gives the film an enthusiastic, deeply appreciative verdict, calling the chance to experience the cave a privilege and pleasure. He especially praises the ancient paintings’ beauty and the film’s effective use of 3-D to show how they follow the cave’s contours. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-apr-29-la-et-cave-of-forgotten-dreams-20110429-story.html)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): Bradshaw calls the documentary a remarkable success, full of wonder and mystery. He especially praises how 3D brings the Chauvet cave’s ancient paintings to life. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/24/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-review)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Kirk Honeycutt (90/100, inferred): Honeycutt finds the documentary fascinating and praises Herzog’s imaginative exploration of ancient art, spirituality and human nature. He particularly singles out the cave’s extraordinary art and the effective use of 3D to reveal its spaces and movement. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/cave-forgotten-dreams-film-review-30031/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (3.5/4): Ebert gives the documentary a positive verdict, finding it a moving encounter with humanity’s distant past. He singles out the cave paintings and Herzog’s presentation of them as the film’s central wonder. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/humans-passed-this-way-long-ago)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (3.5/4): Schager finds the documentary a spiritually enriching meditation on art, time, and humanity’s relationship with nature. He praises Herzog’s evocative cave cinematography and narration, while noting that the 3D is often dark and unnatural. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/cave-of-forgotten-dreams/)
- **Variety**, Justin Chang (75/100, inferred): Chang finds the documentary a meditative, engaging art-history lesson, despite occasional digressions and awkward 3D. He especially praises the cave paintings’ vivid depth and Ernst Reijseger’s music for creating a mood of awe. [Read](https://variety.com/2010/film/markets-festivals/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-1117943558/)
- **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (B-): Tobias finds the documentary worthwhile but ultimately stifling and less freewheeling than Herzog’s best work. He praises the rare access to the cave art and Herzog’s peculiar, sometimes profound questions, while criticizing the repetitive wall scans and dirge-like score. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-1798168078)
- **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film engrossing and often evocative, though less visionary than Herzog’s best work. They praise its intimate 3D rendering of the cave paintings, while faulting an intrusive heartbeat and score that spoil a moment of silence. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-werner-herzog-93-mins-u-2254053.html)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): Lane finds the documentary exhilarating and often compelling, though Herzog sometimes reaches too eagerly for metaphysical interpretations. He especially praises the 3-D images of the cave’s layered, rippling animal paintings. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/02/in-the-dark-anthony-lane)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (65/100, inferred): The page text is inaccessible, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. No praise or complaint can be reliably identified from the available content. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/movies/werner-herzogs-cave-of-forgotten-dreams-review.html)
- **Screen Daily**, Allan Hunter (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a review, but the critic’s verdict is inaccessible. The article text is hidden, so no specific praise or complaint can be confirmed. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/cave-of-forgotten-dreams/5018251.article)
- **Evening Standard**, The Standard (55/100, inferred): The critic finds the documentary fascinating but overlong, with stretches that may lull viewers to sleep. They praise the vivid 3D images of the cave paintings and the engaging scientists Herzog interviews. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-will-send-some-to-sleep-7424133.html)
- **The Skinny**, Philip Concannon (★★★★★): The review praises Herzog’s distinctive approach and says the film’s 3D brings the ancient cave paintings vividly to life. It also singles out his evocative narration and eccentric group of guides as part of the film’s appeal. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/cineskinny/gff-2011-cave-of-forgotten-dreams)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (85/100, inferred): Kermode highly recommends the film, though she notes it may not rank among Herzog’s greatest works. She praises how the 3D brings the Chauvet paintings’ depth and texture to life. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (4/5): Lambie praises the documentary as fascinating and thought-provoking, arguing that it makes excellent use of 3D. He singles out the vivid sense of the cave’s depth and texture, which brings its ancient art to life. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-review-2/)
- **The Playlist** (65/100, inferred): The headline suggests a measured verdict, describing the film as neither forgettable nor especially dreamy. The blocked page provides no further detail about what the critic praised or faulted. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-werner-herzogs-cave-of-forgotten-dreams-is-neither-forgettable-nor-very-dreamy-20110426/)
- **Collider**, Bill Graham (C+): The critic finds the documentary worthwhile but overlong, repetitive, and unevenly paced. He praises the immersive 3D tour of the cave paintings as an exceptional use of the format. [Read](https://collider.com/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-review/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Dave Roper (3/5): The critic finds the documentary fascinating and important, though repetitive in places and weakened by an unclear, self-indulgent coda. They praise the vividly filmed cave paintings and Herzog’s sense of wonder. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-blu-ray-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Werner Herzog
- **Director:** Werner Herzog
- **Screenplay:** Werner Herzog, Judith Thurman
- **Cinematography:** Peter Zeitlinger
- **Editor:** Joe Bini, Maya Hawke
- **Music:** Ernst Reijseger
- **Producer:** Adrienne Ciuffo, Dave Harding, Erik Nelson
- **Cast:** Werner Herzog as Narrator (voice); Dominique Baffier as Self; Jean Clottes as Self; Jean-Michel Geneste as Self; Michel Philippe as Self; Gilles Tosello as Self; Carole Fritz as Self; Maria Malina as Self
- **Runtime:** 1h 30m
- **First release (Canada):** 13 September 2010
- **Genres:** Documentary
- **Box office:** $6 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmMUlNeLApU

## Where to watch in India

Not streaming, renting or buying in India at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, CA, CH, DE, EE, FR, IT, LT, NZ, UA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Grizzly Man* (2005), Fi1m 85: Herzog looking at something enormous and indifferent, this time with teeth. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/grizzly-man.md)
- *Nostalgia for the Light* (2010), Fi1m 83: Guzmán’s Chilean desert, where astronomers and grieving women both dig into the past. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/nostalgia-for-the-light.md)
- *Pina* (2011): Wenders makes the other good case for 3D, with dancers instead of lions.
- *Sans Soleil* (1983), Fi1m 82: Chris Marker’s essay film: a narrator who wonders aloud and earns it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sans-soleil.md)
- *Fire of Love* (2022), Fi1m 76: Two volcanologists film the earth up close; the earth eventually films back. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fire-of-love.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/cave-of-forgotten-dreams