La salamandre (1971)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.2/10   

Réalisateur:

Alain Tanner

Writers:

John Berger (writer)
Alain Tanner (writer)

Release Date:

27 octobre 1971 (France)

Genre:

Drame

Plot:

Two men, arty though somewhat staid, are drawn to the spirited and quixotic Rosemonde, a young working-class...

Awards:

1 win

Avis des utilisateurs:

Wonderful film

Ensemble

Bulle Ogier	...	Rosemonde
Jean-Luc Bideau	...	Pierre
Jacques Denis	...	Paul
Véronique Alain	...	Suzanne
Daniel Stuffel	...	Le patron du magasin de chaussures
Marblum Jequier	...	La femme de Paul (as Marblum Jéquier)
Marcel Vidal	...	L'oncle de Rosemonde
Dominique Catton	...	Roger
Violette Fleury	...	La mère du patron du magasin de chaussures
Mista Préchac	...	La mère de Rosemonde
Pierre Walker	...	L'inspecteur de la Régie
Janine Christoffe	...	Catherine, une amie de Pierre
Guillaume Chenevière	...	L'inspecteur de police
Claudine Berthet	...	Zoé, la dactylo
Michel Viala	...	Le patron peintre en bâtiment

Autre(s) titre(s):

Der Salamander (Switzerland: German title)
The Salamander (USA)

Durée:

124 min | USA:125 min

Pays:

Switzerland

Langue:

Français

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Son:

Mono

Classification:

Finland:S | Sweden:11

Company:

Filmograph S.A.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Garçon stupide (2004)

Wonderful film

I have seen only two other films by Tanner, Le Milieu du monde and Jonas..., but I can say that he is one of my favorite directors. This episodic, fascinating work was written by Tanner and John Berger, the left-wing art critic, and it attacks the mania for finding tidy explanations for deviant behavior: if a man cleans his gun and it goes off, wounding him, is it an accident or foul play? If the man's daughter is a strange, half-educated rural girl, should either Pierre or Paul start sleeping with her? What are the employment prospects of a girl who can't fill a plastic casing with sausage out of a machine, and who listens to heavy rock as though there's a message from the cosmos in it?

I fell into the rhythm of this picture very easily. Its critique of life in bourgeois Switzerland is sharp--the visit from the inspector of "civil decency" is very funny. Both Jean-Luc Bideau and Jacques Denis are very good as the two sheepish city guys, and Bulle Ogier always holds your attention as the unsophisticated Rosemonde who just wants to have fun.