In Nantes, a city in the western part of France, giants roam the streets. Towering over humans, a trio of giants including an adult man, a female child and a dog journey through the city peacefully, attracting crowds along the way. It’s a performance by a puppet troupe called Royal de Luxe. The company has become famous for putting on enormous puppet shows that use actual cities as a giant puppet theater. The result is awe-inspiring.

I’m fascinated by puppets, in part thanks to the fact my younger sister is a professional puppeteer. In the hands of a master puppeteer, the movements can seem so lifelike that you forget for a while that you’re watching someone manipulate an otherwise inanimate object. There’s something sad about a puppet that is left alone. And if you’ve ever had the chance to tour a museum filled with puppets, preferably after the museum is closed to the public and the lights are dim, they can be pretty creepy. The Center for Puppetry Arts here in Atlanta has some impressive puppets on display, some of them hooked up to motors and actuators so that they seem to move on their own. It can be a bit unnerving.

The giant puppets in Nantes require massive cranes and specialized vehicles to operate them properly. Much of the manipulation comes courtesy of good old-fashioned human power. Puppeteers grasp thick ropes to move arms and legs into place. Teams coordinate with one another to make each movement appear natural and lifelike. To accomplish some movements, puppeteers climb staircases on moving scaffolding to jump off a platform in pairs while grasping a rope. Once they hit the ground, the puppeteers let go of the line and head to the stairs to get back in line as the next pair of performers prepares for their leap. It’s a complicated dance of technology and humans that is almost as fascinating as the puppets themselves.

Watch the video below to get an idea of the complexity involved in this artistic performance.