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[man narrating] At some point in our lives, we all dream of flying.

[speaking French]

[onlookers] Yes! Whoo-hoo-hoo!

[man narrating] Why is that?

[gasping, chattering]

[narrator] And what is it to be one of these ski jumpers

and wingsuiters...

and highliners--

an individual that pursues air,

height, flight...

and freedom?

What is the void?

The emptiness that keeps us afloat,

that draws us towards death?

Or is it the terrifying alternative

to every decision we make?

We're all surrounded by this void.

We're all at the mercy of the universe.

And that scares us.

[speaking French]

The men and women who stand on the precipice of their own souls,

while most of us run away,

I wonder if they can teach us anything about how to live.

This is Tancrède Melet walking the highline in Chamonix,

600 meters above the ground.

He is soloing,

which is to say he is walking with no harness and no safety line

to prevent him from falling.

[man speaking French]

There's a saying from this sports psych book

that I've read a few times.

It says, a body works perfectly and the mind gets in the way.

And when it all works right,

in a contest run or even just riding another day,

that's when it all clicks, is when you're into that zone.

[French]

[Toa Fraser narrating] As a filmmaker, I often feel that I'm walking on a tightrope.

The void is staring back at you at every step.

Why did I choose this life?

A search for freedom?

The freedom from constraints?

The freedom to live truly in my own life?

[man] When you jump, the time expands.

Your brain is much more smarter.

It analyzes with a frame rate--

I don't know. Very, very fast.

And you really feel this moment

as a-- as a-- a very powerful moment.

[siren wailing]

[Fraser] What do you say to people that are pursuing something so extreme

that they are actively risking their life?

[Jossi] I don't know what we're pursuing, man.

It's not like the pursuit of happiness, 'cause it's happiness the whole time.

It's not like happiness is the end.

I don't even know if there's an end goal, to be honest.

I think the pursuit is just to...

feel that as much as you can

the whole time, like every day.

I think that's what it is.

[Fraser] What is this pursuit, and what does it mean to me?

What drives people like Jossi?

[shutter clicks]

Why do they do what they do?

And why are they prepared to risk death in order to find joy?

[Fraser] Tell me what goes through your mind when you're skiing in competition.

[Jossi] There was a zone I would go in, like the zone people talk about.

You're not thinking about anything. Your mind goes blank.

If it's done right, it goes blank.

When you go out to play in front of people,

you already know the notes to play.

And when it comes to that time to put on a show,

you put the heart and the soul into it and put those emphases on that note just so, you know,

elevate that song to the point of bringing your own little touch to it.

You watch a crazy violinist playing,

they've got their eyes closed and they're wailing away.

They're just-- They're in that zone, that, like, switch-off zone.

They're not thinking about it. They're feeling it, kinda.

Feeling their way through that track

and putting those emphasis notes on where it feels good to put them in.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

There's people lined down the half-pipe

screaming, like-- Yay! All crazy.

But I couldn't hear any of that. And I drop in.

Everything was like... [snaps fingers]

All I could hear is, like, my skis on the ground.

[imitates skis landing]

That's exactly how I want to ski.

I want to drop in and just play my music

and put the emphasis on those notes

to make people go, "Whoa! Sick!"

One of the things that drew me into this discipline, this sport of skiing,

is the creativity and freedom of it.

There's nobody telling me how to do it,

telling me how to move my arm, how to move my leg, how to grab my ski.

No one is telling me how to do any of that.

So it's basically completely up to me and how I want to express myself.

It all works right in a contest run

or even just riding another day.

That's when it all clicks, is when you're into that zone.

[crowd cheering] [announcer] The final jump.

Hard over the shoulder. Yes! Going for the switch. Double-14 gets it!

Jossi Wells just commanding it.

From Kiwi Land. Doing it for all of New Zealand. And look how fired up he is.

[Fraser] Skiing was Jossi's first love.

It's given him purpose, confidence and acclaim.

While pushing himself to the limits of his sport,

Jossi broke his neck in three places,

an injury that nearly cost him his life.

Yet he went on to achieve the unthinkable--

a gold medal at the 2016 X Games.

It wasn't enough.

Was it possible for Jossi to experience any greater sense of joy?

He is now heading to the French Alps

to experience for the first time the highline.

[Jossi] It's the satisfaction of overcoming...

that fear that you've had in your brain,

that you've kind of had set for yourself

that I chase.

[Fraser] Was highlining going to be the next phase for Jossi,

or was this about freedom?

If so, freedom from what?

What were the shackles he needed to throw off?

[Fraser] We talked about Chamonix

being a place that creates a sense of humility and life and death.

[Jossi] I know Chamonix is like,

the epicenter of epic mountains in the world.

It's kind of like the holy grail

of big mountain extreme skiing.

[woman] Are you going skiing, Joss?

[Jossi] Started skiing at 18 months.

My dad was working in Whistler at the time.

One of the first words that I learnt was "ski."

And I would always just be sitting by the window, "Ski! Ski!" [laughs]

[Fraser] Jossi is the eldest of four brothers,

all professional skiers.

Yeah, I'd like to make a job.

I'd like to be a ski racer when I grow up.

Gonna talk to an ollie!

[Jossi] My whole life, when I was a grommie, um,

I always seemed to be a little bit different than everyone else.

I had long blonde hair, for one.

Got mistaken for a girl on a daily basis.

I'd play my violin outside the supermarket for money

so I could buy skateboards and skate shoes.

I was a Christian. I was home-schooled.

And so a whole lot of things that I was

led to me feeling like a little bit of an outsider.

My parents got me into ski racing.

I ski-raced from the age of seven up until I was 15.

Trying to go as fast as you can down a hill, around gates.

It's a really, really cool feeling.

And it wasn't until I started free-skiing and that whole vibe

that I felt like I really fit in,

because everybody was really good friends and everyone rode together

and everyone was pushing each other to do better.

I always just thought that I was little Jossi from Wanaka.

Going from being that stoked little grommie

to actually being one of those guys that the grommies looked up to,

it took me a little while to get used to it.

Ohh! [laughs]

[Fraser] I find these mountains kind of foreign,

scary and inspiring.

I'm not the only one.

People have been coming here for centuries to test themselves,

illuminate their spirits, their weaknesses

and their strengths.

[chattering]

Le Brévent is also a revered place for highliners and wingsuiters.

[chattering in French]

Highline. The highline webbing. That's for the highline.

It's good.

[Fraser] The Flying Frenchies are not only extreme sportspeople,

but also artists, acrobats and performers.

Put Jossi on the ground.

To me they're poets of the mountains and of the void.

They have tremendous respect for it,

and yet approach it with a kind of comical lightness.

I mean, the scene is sort of crazy.

And I don't know if it's some sort of strange fairy tale.

But it's an understatement to say that Julien and the rest of the Flying Frenchies

understand height and fear.

And then we'll do a highline from, uh-- from the top of it

to the tree just there.

It's not very high, but it's high enough.

And so, uh, as the fear is related to height--

Mm-hmm.

You won't have much fear here. True.

[speaking French]

[Fraser] Here are Julien and Tancrède as they recce the fjords of Norway

for ideal highlining and flying spots.

[Fraser] How did you meet Tancrède?

[Julien] I met Tancrède in, uh, the Verdon Gorge.

Uh, the Verdon Gorge is--

is the mecca for climbing of France.

I was with, uh, some friends at a campsite, and then Tancrède showed up.

He was alone and asked, uh, if somebody was keen to climb with him

within the next days,

because he was alone and you would need to be two, at least, for climbing.

And we were having just fun with friends.

I was making my first steps on a slackline

between two trees in the campsite.

And I remember Tancrède saying, "Okay, we can do a highline.

We can go and do a highline."

And so we all went up in the Verdon Gorge

and set up a ridiculous highline,

and we just discovered what was the thrill of highlining all together.

So I met Tancrède,

I do my first steps on the slackline,

and two hours after I do my first steps on the highline.

Actually, it was a Saturday or Sunday,

and the next Monday I was putting my resignation letter for quitting my job.

So at the same time Tancrède, also,

was not really, uh, happy with, uh, his job.

I didn't talk about it.

I would just say, "Okay, next Monday I'm resigning."

And then he said, "I will do the same soon actually."

And, uh, when he saw that I was ready to do it, and doing it,

and that we--

We were doing something together.

We didn't know what, but we were, like, just, okay.

We... We are free

to do what we want for one year, two year.

We were really partners in this moment.

[shouting]

[laughing]

[French] [Julien laughs]

All right, once again. Try it again.

So it stretches. You can pull a bit back.

All right, that's a good start.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

-One, two, three. -[grunting]

One, two, three.

[all counting together] One, two, three.

[Fraser] Slacklining, highlining.

They seem to be very different from competitive skiing.

[laughs]

[Fraser] From out of the constraints

and the very specific concentration and determination,

I wondered about the possibility of a kind of limitless freedom.

[chattering]

You have good legs. Good, strong legs.

Yeah? Mmm.

All right. Come on.

All right?

All right. Okay.

Okay, did you feel, when you put the second step, it stops shaking?

-Yeah. -But as soon as you touch the line with the second step,

then it will stop again.

Okay. So the more you have your two steps together,

the easier it will be for, uh, keeping your balance. Mm-hmm.

Okay.

So you can push on the leg...

rather than try to-- to jump on the line.

Just push on the leg. Cool.

Yeah. That's it.

[exhales] She's shaky, mate. Yeah.

I can take your hand. Yeah.

Another feeling will-- will help.

Okay, and now try to--

Just to feel-- to relax, okay.

So for me your-- your foot are good.

Maybe this one could be a little bit more like that, okay?

You can try after to go on the front, on the back,

to transfer your weight.

Like that, okay?

And after you go in the front, you can try to do one step. Okay?

[Jossi] I'm always a guy that wants to finish something and accomplish it,

and so I want to get across it all the way.

That's the whole goal, you know.

And so I'm getting frustrated because I can see that I have a very long road to go.

[Fraser] So you had a van? [Julien] Yeah.

[Fraser] And it was the two of you in the van. In France?

[Julien] Yeah. With not much money.

The goal was to travel to one place, stay for one or two weeks.

W-We had to live it a hundred percent.

We are not able to, uh, go to work from Monday to Friday

and then just spend the time--

the weekend time doing what we wanted to do.

We wanted to embrace it at its-- at full speed. [laughs]

[Julien] When we went to Norway,

this was, uh, one of the biggest trips we did together.

It was only three weeks, but, uh, we were just the two of us,

and, uh, uh,

we were discovering a new place together.

[speaking French]

[Julien] This trip was a very important trip for us,

because it's the last piece of training

before being able to BASE jump or highline.

[singing "Happy Birthday to You" in French]

[song ends]

[speaking French]

[laughing]

[man] Purpose. And relax your hand.

Relax your--

And when you do all your move--

"Flook, flook, flook" with your hands. Okay.

[chattering in French]

[clears throat]

I need to strap my ankle up, I think, guys.

[Jossi] I broke my ankle three or four years ago skateboarding pretty bad.

Had surgery on it.

Had about ten months off skis.

And then for the next year after that while I was skiing it was super-bad,

so I had to tape it up every day before I went skiing.

[exhales] Okay.

Relax. Yeah.

I flipped it over. Yeah, you flipped the...

I had stem cell surgery on them a while ago.

They've been bad since I was about 15.

My knees hurt me too. Yeah.

[Fraser] As the training went on,

it was becoming clearer just what Jossi's shackles were--

his body.

At just 26, Jossi's body has been beaten up so bad

he has willfully chosen constant pain in order to do what he does.

[Jossi] At my first X Games I was 16 years old.

In the qualifiers I popped a little too hard on one of my tricks

and landed really low and just drove my shoulder right into the flat bottom,

and I shattered my collarbone into six pieces.

Had surgery the next day and got a metal plate put in,

which is still in there holding me together right now.

I've broken my ankle twice,

three of my ribs off my spine,

my wrist three times.

I've dislocated and fractured my elbow.

I haven't skied a day in the last six years

without pain.

Whether it's minor or major, I still don't have a hundred-percent perfect body.

I have my knee problem that hurts every day I ski.

[Fraser] We weren't designed to be suspended in the air.

Yet the Flying Frenchies describe a sense of peace when highlining,

a peace I glimpsed when I saw Jossi training at Le Brévent.

There was also an irony to Jossi's story.

After breaking his body through an extreme sport,

he was now seeking to transcend his body through an extreme sport.

[Julien] When you are slacklining on the ground

and you are just imagining that you are highlining,

because you don't want to fall obviously, and--

and a fall is directly related

to your fear of falling into the void.

[speaking French]

[Julien] So when you are highlining,

you can't avoid the void.

You must embrace it.

You must, uh, accept that it's all around you,

and it's very hard because...

you let your fear go inside of your brain,

and I-I-I really like this feeling

when you are just overwhelmed with fear of falling,

but at the same time fighting against

and being able to stay on this little line.

[French]

'Cause I'm used to, like, switching off. Yeah.

'Cause I don't think about what I'm doing when I do it. Yeah.

And with this it's like... concentration the whole time.

It's longer. It's very different.

I think what you do, jumping,

is the-- the same we do as, uh, BASE jumping.

Like we need, uh, short concentration. Mm-hmm.

And then when you jump after you just, uh--

-[makes whooshing sound] And do what you have to do. -Yeah. Mm-hmm.

And your body knows how to do it. Yeah.

Just switch off and go. Mmm.

[Julien] And you fight, fight, fight. Aah!

[Anicet] Sometimes you-- you really think you're-- you're falling,

and if you fight, oh, you get up again.

And two meters after you get calm. Mm-hmm.

And then you have the technique,

and more you have this relation with the void--

Mm-hmm.

Uh, the less it takes your energy.

But at the beginning it's so much energy. Oh, yeah.

Nice.

[Julien] Imagine that you are not on the ground anymore.

You are high, and you don't really have the right to fall.

[exhales]

Yeah. Just got it, man.

That's perfect.

Man!

There we go. It's coming along.

You need, uh-- You need a longer line now.

So Anicet here is walking, but, uh--

Anicet, can you fall please?

You fight, you fight, and you're already falling.

He's all right. It's intense.

That's the fun flip, yeah. Cool.

So you just have to-- Yeah, you go side, and you put your--

Mm-hmm. your hands on the rope.

And then you are lying in the harness. Mm-hmm.

So, you will have another difficult move to do

with your knees, unfortunately.

[English]

Yeah.

While realistically being completely...

exhausted.

Okay? Oh, I should put the gloves on.

It must be pretty insane being way, way, way up.

Okay. Sausage time.

Perfect.

Yeah. Yeah. [exhales]

Okay, guy!

Good job.

And then...

Nice. All right.

[Julien] Put two legs-- Yeah, the legs on each side. And you have it.

[Julien] Okay, now take your time, huh? All the time you can.

Okay, relax. Relax.

And try to walk.

Fall, fall, fall!

[all cheering, applauding]

[Julien] That was clean!

Are you all right? Yeah!

Yeah.

Aah! Damn it.

[groans]

That's brutal on the kidneys, eh?

Oh, man.

[Anicet] Put your foot on the other side. Not like that. Like that.

Oh, okay.

Nice.

Yeah. Yeah! Okay, guy.

[Fraser] Bet you hate being out of control, eh?

[Jossi] Feeling very unconfident at something,

it's like the worst feeling you can have.

[Julien] Hey, you are a rock climber.

[Jossi] When I was 16, I could land on a knuckle

and balance, and get back up, and go do the next run, and it was fine.

But now falling does take a bit more of a toll on the body.

It's also kind of mental too.

I don't like feeling out of my comfort zone.

Winter Olympian Jossi Wells has suffered a potentially career-ending injury

in a free-ski crash in Australia.

Wells broke his neck during a big air event at the resort of Thredbo.

[Jossi] Unfortunately came up about a meter short on the jump.

So I hit the flat part right before the landing

and ended up landing on my back and neck kind of simultaneously.

And I felt pins and needles through my legs and feet.

Started to kind of freak out a little bit as I was sliding down the landing.

Still I was wriggling my toes like crazy, making sure that I still had feeling in them.

I sustained a fracture

in the C7 vertebrae, uh, in my lower neck,

and I've got some other--

a little bit of a step in C5 and 6.

So yeah, it's not great.

There is a point of no return

once you hit the transition where it's too late to stop and change your flight path.

You have a millisecond

to decide what position am I gonna put my body in when I land on this knuckle

to come out of this the best I can.

I've learned from my experiences

slapping back and taking the pressure off my knees

is the best option for me.

So that's what I did.

But I had too much speed and bounced off the knuckle, and it all turned to custard.

I've never felt so uncomfortable in my body,

so uncomfortable in the air.

It was literally all out of my control, and I was just floating back.

I couldn't change anything.

I didn't have any choice on how I was going to land at that point,

because I had already done that and used it up, kinda, you know.

When you're upright in the air, you can still move your body in a certain way.

When I was just bouncing back, it was completely out of control.

That was the scariest thing.

I've n-- I'd never felt that out of control.

[woman] Worst part was the drive to the hospital.

Three hours in that ambulance. That was pretty scary, eh?

Yeah. I was so miserable.

And not knowing, like, because we had--

Actually, we got those X-rays down in the medic's.

But they didn't know, like, the extent of the injury.

Yeah, they saw that it-- they saw that it was fractured.

So we were, just like, three hours of, like, sitting there, like, okay.

That was the scariest part-- a mil away from being paralyzed. It was pretty gnarly.

[Hannah] Yeah, it kind of freaked him out

that something that-- that, uh, just, like,

a tiny bit of speed could almost change your whole entire life,

and one millimeter...

could be the difference between...

your entire future, like, the way it pans out.

[Hannah] The doctor was, like, "That's why you felt tingling." 'Cause it actually touched it.

And there was a teeny bit of fluid in between--

holding that bone from... paralyzing you.

Literally a millimeter.

Like, that's not a lot.

[Fraser] What do you say to people who are pursuing something so extreme

that they're actively risking their life?

[chuckles]

I think it goes back to, um, what I said

about not living in fear.

[sizzling]

We're about to set this kitchen on fire.

[Hannah] Skiing is important.

That's who he is. That's what he loves.

So to take that away would have been the same if he got paralyzed. You know?

I mean, there would have been nothing really different to him.

[Fraser] Is that why you do what you?

'Cause you don't want to live life scared?

Yeah. Like, I'm--

I don't want to be afraid of...

doing something because of the consequences of it.

Like, I'm really aware of the consequences, of course.

But...

I don't want to, like,

live life terrified of what could happen.

[Julien] The basics of BASE jumping

is just falling, like, with normal gear, normal clothes.

So it's very short.

So you spend maybe 30 minutes packing your parachute,

then you walk for two hours,

and you have, like, five seconds of-- of-- of fall.

So that's a very intense jump.

But, uh, you--

you may, uh, want more, uh, free-fall time.

The problem with BASE jumping,

it's very simple when everything goes well.

But, uh, it's only when you have, like, unexpected things

that you realize that actually it's a bit difficult.

[speaking French]

[Jossi] The idea that there's something that has--

that has the potential to be very destructive--

But the flip side that you live with

is something that is very creative.

[Julien] I know some people that start BASE jumping

and after 30 jumps they say, "Okay, it's not for me.

I love you guys. I love the family involved in this sport.

But seeing 25 people I nearly know dying every year is not for me."

And I completely understand that.

Okay. [counts to three in French]

[Julien] And unfortunately, uh, being a bit, uh, cold

when you see death at your door.

You have to, uh, make a wall.

Otherwise you-- you will stop.

You are getting stronger, but at the same time I say to myself--

For example, I-I'm-- I'm not having a lot of sad feelings.

So am I a monster now?

Am I just, like, a shield

and there's nothing inside?

So you--

That's the problem when you seem strong to-- to people,

and to some-- and when you make a-a strong, uh, mind.

[Julien] Soloing is one step beyond.

The first stage of soloing

is to just do a highline attached to a rope.

And then you have the second stage of soloing stuff is, like, you remove the safety.

[Fraser] There's no question that if you're walking across a highline without safety,

if something goes wrong then you're-- you're gonna end up dead.

[Julien] I remember my first solo. I was like...

feeling that my heart would just stop,

because it's--

it's so intense.

You have-- I don't know if it's adrenaline.

I don't know what's-- what's, uh,

uh, in your veins at this time,

but you feel--

you feel cold, you feel-- [imitates whooshing sound] and warm at the same time.

It's just so powerful.

You say, like, my body won't bear this-- this feeling.

And then this feeling fades away slowly,

and then you get your skills back and you build yourself,

and you're-- you're like, okay.

I'm still alive, I'm still in solo,

and now I'm enjoying this moment.

Tancrède loved this, uh, uh, aspect

of just being with the hand on the balance,

[laughing] alone with no help.

Whoo!

And, uh, he loved the fear involved with that,

and controlling this fear,

which is way, way, way greater

than just being on the highline, attached with a leash.

[Tancrède speaking French]

[wind howling]

[man] What do we got?

There's no visibility at all, so...

With the snow that's also white, obviously you can't see anything.

Sometimes if you're not careful, you can get kind of disoriented, okay?

So just take your time when you're walking on the snow.

[Antoine speaking English]

Hold on.

[speaking French]

[grunting]

There it is.

Nobody wants to go out. [laughing]

-Yes. -Ooh!

[laughing continues]

[man] So the plan for today, guys,

I went to check things this morning.

Um-- [clicks tongue]

There's a little bit more wind than yesterday.

And also the wind has turned. Now it's more... west coming.

So it hits the-- it hits the line a little bit more, so I think...

[Julien] 'Cause the wind won't stop and will increase, huh?

[man] The wind will probably increase at noon,

and then it will start snowing also.

Oh! So it's gonna be storm-- stormy.

Okay. Stormy weather.

[laughing]

[Fraser] From what I understand, the control thing

and executing something perfectly in the way that you describe,

is more to do with dopamine than it is to do with adrenaline.

[Jossi] Adrenaline is not really a nice feeling.

Adrenaline is like a...

uncontrollable feeling.

[Jossi] I like to be in control.

Welcome in hell. Whoo!

Storm has picked up, eh? Look at that.

[Julien] Easy.

[laughing] [Jossi] Wow.

The line is pretty tight.

If the weather improve,

I guess you will have some chance to stand up,

maybe make one step or two.

Okay? Good. Yeah.

Then this one here. This one here.

Crazy. We're the sworn kings of jesters

But we never worn a crown

Getting gold from the nobles

And mocking from yea all

But we drink with the greatest warrior

And we dance in every hall

We never had a family

Nor have I had a wife

It's the hard price of living

It's the price I pay for life

Getting gold from the nobles

And mocking from yea all

But we drink with the greatest warrior

And we dance in every hall

[Julien] Highlining is pretty extreme for your mind.

But you have to feel some signals in your head

that just-- that are telling you that what you do is special,

what you do is unique

and what you do is, uh...

the most important moment of your life,

because it's the present, it's the last minute.

The next minute is the most important moment of your life

Because if you don't do this properly,

it's the last minute of your life, so...

[chattering] [vocalizing]

[Jossi] Whoa, that's scary looking down.

To die without a nickel is a scare for anyone

Whee! Hee-hah!

[Julien] Wow!

That is the craziest part-- flipping over and looking down there.

Whoo!

Okay, guys. Okay, relax.

Slowly, slowly, slowly.

Oh! Fuck!

[grunts] Oh, you just leaned forward.

That's hard, man.

That is very difficult.

This bounce is sick though.

Oh! [cheering, whooping]

[Julien] You fell into the void.

Yeah, man. Whoo!

Come on. [grunts]

Ba-da-boom! Whoo!

[laughs] Oh, yeah.

[Julien chattering] [grunting]

[speaking French]

So exhaus-- I can't even move my arms. [exhales]

Oh, wow.

That's exhausting, man.

[Julien] This is hard-core.

[Fraser] When you're out of your comfort zone and out of control,

you said, "If I don't walk across that line from one side of the cliff to the other,

then it's not worth doing."

[Jossi] Yeah. I had a rope on me.

If I was gonna fall, I was gonna get caught.

I wasn't scared of falling, plunging to my death.

I couldn't even stand up on it. That was a huge failure.

But I think I was scared of being...

so outside of my comfort zone for myself.

My man.

Thanks, boys.

[Julien] You're a warrior, guy.

You're a warrior. Thank you so much.

[grunts]

Thank you for that experience.

Thank you for you-- You give a lot.

That's too real, man.

You gave a lot. Whoo!

[laughing]

Ew!

-Oh! He lost it. -Oh!

[Julien] It was really important to enjoy this moment

because the friendship was the key moment.

It's not about highlining.

It was just about doing crazy highlining in crazy conditions.

Before, I was result-driven.

And now, I'm more into sharing the moment with people.

It's sometimes stronger than just crossing for yourself.

When we jump, we are alone. When we--

When we are highlining, we are alone on the line.

You have this freedom, you have this graceful moment.

And you...

you just say, "Okay, I... It's worth it for me.

I need this."

[Fraser] Is that why you do it? For that moment?

[Julien] I... At the moment, I can't live without it.

I need to do it. It's, uh-- It's part of me.

The other answer I know is that it will not last.

[laughing]

Whoo!

[Fraser] It feels like one of the most important aspects

is that camaraderie?

[laughing]

The clown can leave the circus, but the circus cannot leave the clown.

This is how you build the best friendship ever, I would say.

You know, we are very privileged as--

We can, you know,

consume a lot of goods

to go and fly off a mountain,

and, you know, Tancrède remembered

that, um, okay, he was being very free,

but he was also using a lot of consumer goods, a lot of toys--

[laughs] as we like to call them.

Whoa.

[drumming]

[Eudeline] He gave the impression, maybe,

that he was just about, uh, adrenaline

and feeling and living a hundred percent,

but he had also this side of him

where there was a lot of deep reflection about life and the way you live it.

[Tiphaine] Sometimes he was, like, "What are we doing?"

You know, wasting this, wasting this good--

That was his big project--

making people think differently, you know, about healthy living, about food

and... no waste of good food. [laughs]

[man] And to the end

[Tiphaine speaking French]

[Eudeline] I think that's also why he was no longer

fully satisfied with BASE jumping

and he was willing to move to something else.

[jazz]

[man] Yeah!

[Fraser] Tancrède's art was constantly evolving.

He was diving deeper into his psyche.

Whee-hoo!

[speaking French]

Whoo!

Whoo! Whoa!

[Fraser] When I think of extreme sports,

I don't think of guys in wigs, makeup and red noses.

[shouting] But like I said, these are the poets of the void.

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

[Tancrède speaking French]

I was partner with Tancrède. We were close.

And then Anicet came, and he was also developing a different, uh--

a different relationship with him,

which was also really strong.

And they found themselves, uh,

on the craziness of some stunts

that Tancrède was not able to find with me.

Whoo-hoo!

[Anicet speaking English]

[Eudeline] Clown acting really released something.

[speaking French]

[whooping]

[whooping continues]

[Tancrède speaking French]

[Eudeline] You are free, you know. You just...

I think that's what he liked also in clown acting is you--

There are no social limits. A clown can do anything.

You are free. You really can... Mm-hmm.

Anything is open.

[laughing]

[speaking English]

Whoa! Whoa-ho-ho-ho!

[Fraser] It's a natural human instinct to want to progress.

So you start on the two-meter-high slackline,

and then you end up jumping off Le Brévent or whatever.

Why do we have that need? Why can't we stay on the two-meter line?

[Julien] In my very, uh, heart, I want to do it.

I want to do crazy stuff, new stuff.

And I like it actually. I like the danger of it.

[gasping]

[Julien] This-- This is life. Life is-- Life wants to spread.

So we are-- We are all searching

for... for something,

and trying to understand what's next.

[speaking French]

[Anicet speaking French]

There's a lot of happiness,

a lot of undercurrent of good sensation,

and then the ambivalences that there's this,

while we are doing stuff that's life-threatening,

if you think about it.

I think that's when you say ambivalence,

that's what I'm thinking about.

I think sometimes in the-- in the projects,

you don't--

you don't feel this ambivalence, not until there's, um, a moment

where you can release the tension.

We really experienced this moment as a group, I think,

in Norway

when we had built the human sling.

[Tancrède speaks French]

[hysterical laughing]

[Tancrède speaks French]

Yo!

[French]

[shouting]

[Eudeline] He was in the air, and everybody was screaming.

And then I really felt, oh, my God,

there was all this built-up tension, all this...

We were all screaming because we had really been scared, you know.

But we hadn't felt it until we could release it,

and then we were all hugging and, you know--

And then it was all friends, you know, sharing a good moment.

And that was the ambivalence, I think, yeah.

[all whooping, cheering]

[Tancrède]

Whoo-hoo!

[man speaking French] Whoo!

[Fraser] Ambivalence.

Uncertainty.

Doubt.

We want answers.

But there's beauty to be found in the mystery of life.

Why can't we just face the void...

face uncertainty...

feel the fear...

step out

and be free?

I don't think life is random.

I believe that...

everything kind of has a purpose,

everything happens for a reason.

[Julien speaking French]

[speaking French]

[Julien] I was in Tahiti.

I was doing, uh, an unclimbed summit in Bora-Bora.

We did the summit.

We jumped twice in wingsuits from the summit.

And we were just resting the days after,

and we were... in paradise.

And then you got this phone call.

[speaking English]

[Julien] Anicet and other friends just let go,

and Tancrède didn't let go, and he went so high.

He was maybe thinking that he could just fall

and roll like a circus trick.

And then, "Ta-da!"

But it don't work this way.

It didn't work this way.

[Anicet speaking English]

[Julien] And you arrive, and you don't know exactly what's happening

because you were so far when it happens, and...

Your world has changed.

And... you understand that rest in peace

is, uh-- is a real-- has a real meaning actually.

Yeah, you have to, um...

When, uh-- When your friend is, uh--

when your friend is in the coffin like this,

you're... [inhales]

He has not-- He has--

He has nothing to do actually. He's dead, so...

But you have to do the work for... for yourself.

And, uh, yeah. You see this void actually in your-- in your mind.

[exhales]

[Anicet speaking English]

[sniffles]

[Jossi] I've had a few friends that have passed away in the mountains,

whether it's avalanches or BASE jumping accidents

or... falling in the half-pipe and hitting your head.

It's pretty hard to, like...

I don't know, deal with that when

you're kind of doing the exact same thing

as something that your friend died doing.

You say that sometimes you're doing something really weird,

and you just ask yourself, why?

And by the moment you jump, you have this freedom, you have this--

this, uh, uh, graceful moment, and you--

you just say, "Okay, I...

It's worth it for me. I need this. I need this."

[Jossi] I think that's why I'm not afraid

to keep doing this stuff

and why I'm not...

gonna quit because I broke my neck.

Because I see this as, you know, part of my purpose.

I see this as something I should be doing,

and I'm not afraid of crazy things happening

because if they did happen, then that's just the next chapter.

[Fraser] Do you believe Jossi's being looked after?

Yeah.

100 percent.

There's...

There's times where I've...

mmm, kind of like...

doubted of what we really can be protected from.

Because Jossi broke his neck, and then my brother died.

And I was kind of, like,

are we, like, being protected and taken care of?

But then I always have to remember

that we still live in a world where you drop a ball,

and it still falls to the ground,

even if you prayed so hard for it to stay in the air, you know.

We still live in a world where things happen,

but we might not understand it all the time.

[Fraser] You see it through the roof?

[Fraser] In my work, I often stand at the precipice.

[Jossi] Wow.

[Fraser] As a director, I encourage others to take risks,

to leap into the void.

Hey.

How are you? Great.

What's up? How are you? Good to see you.

Good, man. Nice and rested.

How's it looking?

[Jossi] I think you'd be kind of insane if you didn't have a little fear.

[Julien] Yeah.

[Anicet speaking English]

[exhales] Yeah.

Fully.

Yeah.

[Julien] Yeah.

Here's the jumping place, where there's still some stuff to do.

But basically, you see here,

this is the stairway to heaven.

[laughs]

Yeah, here you see the platform.

This muddy place-- Yeah.

is where you will start the jump.

[Fraser] I thought this rope jump was just a low-fi kind of bungee jump,

something designed for a thrill.

But Anicet told me they use it as training for BASE jumping and for wingsuiting,

as a way of learning how to fly,

how to move your body and be stable in the air.

And it makes me realize

they aren't crazy, suicidal risk-takers.

What these people do is about minimizing risk,

training and preparing fastidiously

to face incredible challenges.

[grunts]

It's heavy.

[Freddy] All right. You good?

All right. Three, two, one.

See you, mini Jossi. [Julien] Bye!

Whoo! [laughing]

What?

[Fraser] Is it with fear as our soul mate that we find freedom?

[Julien speaking French]

[French]

[Tancrède speaking French]

[trilling]

[Fraser] One of the things that I didn't really realize when we began the journey

was how important height and air

and, kind of, flying is

to the pursuit of freedom, not just to you, but to the Frenchies.

We're not made to fly.

It's not, like, in our DNA.

We don't have wings. We can't fly.

I don't know if it's the way you grow up or if you're born with it,

because there's only a small percentage

that are gonna want to go and jump off a massive cliff with a parachute.

Only a small percentage that are gonna want to go and hit a hundred-foot jump

on skis or a snowboard.

All the guys that kind of live on the edge.

You're aware of where the edge is 'cause you have to be, or you're gonna fall off.

Yeah. Here. And back. Yeah. Exactly.

[Fraser] You risk serious injury every time you go out there.

Is it worth it?

Is it freedom if you're putting your life at risk like this?

Hmm.

How do you live with that?

It's the only way to live.

Not just feeling alive, but feeling like you're...

constantly progressing yourself,

constantly doing something you haven't done yet.

It's just too good to not do it.

I'd rather give every single day of my life a hundred percent

and do exactly what I want to do...

in those days

than to live a whole life of regret

and... be sitting there in a rocking chair at 80,

saying, "Man, I wish I never stopped.

I wish I'd kept doing it."

It's not going to last forever. Pain is temporary.

[Fraser] I love that you use the word "temporary,"

but, I mean, you were just talking about the experience.

But when you first used it, I assumed you were talking about life being temporary.

It's so temporary that if-- I think if you look back--

I want to look back and know that

all those temporary moments, I gave it a hundred percent

and I did it to the fullest.

Okay, Jossi.

Look up. Yeah.

All right. [breathing heavily]

Yeah, man. I'm good.

So... tell me when you are ready.

Hey, brother. [Seb] Enjoy your jump, bro.

Are you feeling good?

Yeah, dog. Can I see your smile?

-[laughing] -Yes.

I'm good. You're good?

Jossi is ready to jump.

[Jossi exhales]

[Julien] Five, four, three, two, one, and go!

Perfect! Whoo!

[whooping]

Whoo-hoo-hoo! Yeah!

Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

[Julien speaking French]

[Tancrède speaking French]

[laughing] Yeah!

Whoo-hoo!

[Fraser] What does freedom mean?

What is its cost?

It seems to be a life spent in the constant pursuit of an ideal.

We are all freedom's slave.

That's the terror of it.

I wonder if Jossi dreams of flying.

In all our time together, I never asked him.

Julien told me he doesn't.

But I know I do.

And in those dreams, fear and joy collide

because freedom isn't the absence of fear.

Freedom is fear.

Freedom isn't defying the void.

It's understanding that there is nothing else but the void.

[Tancrède speaking French]

[Julien speaking French]

[sighs]

We're only young and naive still

We require certain skills

The mood, it changes like the wind

Hard to control when it begins

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-betweens

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Can't help myself but count the flaws

Claw my way out through these walls

One temporary escape

Feel it start to permeate

We lie beneath the stars at night

Our hands gripping each other tight

You keep my secrets Hope to die

Promises, swear them to the sky

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-betweens

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

[man vocalizing]

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-betweens

Fall back in love eventually

Can you whisper?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah