Les Petites Filles Des Ténèbres: Cold Start

It’s not widely known, but George Lucas’ main inspiration for the powers of the Force in the Star Wars movies were inspired by his years growing up in France, where he witnessed firsthand les petites filles des ténèbres, which translates to “little girls of darkness.” These were female children that lived in group homes in French towns and, for a fee, would move objects via telekinesis. Usually, their rates were affordable enough that entire streets of people would have them move their cars out of their driveway with their mind-powers, just so they could have a more leisurely breakfast. That’s what we’re seeing here, with this Citroën Ami and the petite fille des ténèbres there.

In this shot, she’s pulled the car out of the driveway and onto the street, and the dad/Ami owner is just now getting into the car, ready to drop his kid at school and start his day. They were often employed in groups to move pianos up into skyscraper windows, and in the 1924 Paris Olympics, a group of 200 of them performed a dazzling display of sending Renault taxis through the floating Olympic rings, to the delight of the crowd.

By the 1980s, pressures from anti-witchcraft religious groups and the increasing affordability of diesel-powered telekinesis machines effectively ended the era of the filles des ténèbres.