Alain Tanner

  • Myriam Mézières & Alain Tanner – Fleurs de sang AKA Flowers of Blood (2002)

    Drama2001-2010ArthouseMyriam MézièresSpain

    Quote:
    As its titles suggests, Flowers of Blood belongs entirely to the physical and sensual dimension of Tanner’s œuvre – a dimension contributed by Myriam Mézières in a Flame in my Heart and The Diary of Lady M. The script in this case was written by Mézières herself, based on her own memories, and she actually co-directed the film with Tanner.Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Jonas et Lila, à demain (1999)

    1991-2000Alain TannerDramaSwitzerland

    A fake sequel to Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l’an 2000 (1976). Jonas is now indeed 25, has studied cinema and is living with his black lover, Lila, in Geneva, Switzerland. Between disillusions and the loss of ideals, macjobs and the quest for art, Jonas and Lila try to find their way in life.Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Les hommes du port (1995)

    1991-2000Alain TannerArthouseDocumentarySwitzerland

    After 40 years Alain Tanner again travels to the port of Genoa, where he worked for a shipping company as a 22-year-old. On the back of his own memories he depicts the rough world of the dockworkers, another of those trades that has undergone fundamental changes as a result of recessions, modernisation and liberalisation. “The visual impression of the harbour and the city has changed very little, but what goes on there nowadays is completely different. The city is still as beautiful and alien and somewhat sad as before. But the port is dying, like so many other major ports. In Genoa, as elsewhere in Italy, the economic, social and political climate is highly explosive. But you also feel that things are in flow and the country is on the verge of some far-reaching changes. (…) In this film I wanted to explore my own memories of Genoa, uncover its present and guess at its future. Genoa, this beautiful, this sad, this alien town has become for me a metaphor for society in change.”Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Le Journal de Lady M (1993)

    1991-2000Alain TannerDramaSpain

    Quote:
    She’s a beautiful gifted performer, but her work is not the sort that invites popular acclaim. Despite the fact that she is unlikely to become famous, she enjoys her life as a performer who lives just outside the mainstream. Awaiting her backstage one evening is a Spanish painter who has seen her show and wants to make her acquaintance. They walk around Paris getting to know one another, and then the painter returns to Spain. Something about the man has moved Lady M to passion: she flies to meet him in Barcelona and he shows her his beloved Catalonia. Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Requiem (1998)

    1991-2000Alain TannerArthouseDramaSwitzerland

    Synopsis:
    Set on the hottest day of August, with no one on the deserted streets besides a few extras, the story stretches from noon to midnight as French writer Paul (Francis Frappat) waits for an appointment with “a ghost”. He whiles away the day meeting long-dead friends from his memories, who materialize out of nowhere with complete naturalness. Pierre (Andre Marcon), a poet with whom he had a girlfriend (Myriam Szabo) in common, takes him to eat in a local restaurant (recipe details are furnished by the cook). In one of the more curious apparitions, his father appears as a young sailor (Alexandre Zloto) and demands that Paul recount the way he died. The legendary Pessoa – never named, but the well-read viewer is supposed to guess who he is – reflects on life and literature over dinner.Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Les Années lumière AKA Light Years Away (1981)

    1981-1990Alain TannerArthouseDramaSwitzerland

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    In the year 2000, Jonas is 25 years old and lives in Ireland. Disillusioned with his life as a pub barman, he decides to give up everything and live with a mysterious old man, Yoshka, at a run down garage in the middle of no-where. At first, the old man taunts Jonas, giving him useless tasks to do, such as attending a derelict petrol pump. This drives the young man to distraction and he tries to kill himself. Impressed by his young disciple, Yoshka finally decides to share with him his fantastic secret…Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Le Milieu du monde AKA The Middle of the World (1974)

    1971-1980Alain TannerDramaFrance

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    Summary
    Paul, a high-flying engineer, is proud to have been born in a Swiss town the locals refer to as the Centre of the World. He is running for a local election when he meets Adriana, a young Italian waitress in a café. Although he is married, Paul starts to have a passionate love affair with Adriana, and is soon prepared to give up everything for her. However, the young waitress realises that it is not she that Paul loves but a self-made fantasy…Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Une ville à Chandigarh aka A City at Chandigarh (1966)

    1961-1970Alain TannerArchitectureDocumentarySwitzerland

    When, in 1947, a portion of Punjab province was assigned to the newly created
    Pakistani State, Albert Mayer began planning a new capital for the portion which
    remained in the possession of India. Le Corbusier had been responsible since the
    1950s for general planning and, more particularly, for large-scale buildings typical
    of the governmental sector. A year after the death of Le Corbusier, Alain Tanner
    began shooting his film in a city still partially under construction, or even, in certain
    places, at the planning stage. The inhabitants of the metropolis, however, already
    numbered some 120,000.Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – L’Homme qui a perdu son ombre AKA The Man Who Lost His Shadow (1991)

    1991-2000Alain TannerDramaSwitzerland

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    PLOT DESCRIPTION
    Paul (Dominic Guard) is a journalist who is up to date on the latest horrors of the modern world and is heartsick about them. He has a wife (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) and a steady job but leaves both of them suddenly for parts unknown. His wife is worried about him, and she is angry that he left without a word. She is sufficiently concerned to seek out one of Paul’s former flames (Angela Molina) for information about where he might have gone. Soon, this girl has joined her in a quest to find Paul. They finally discover him in a Spanish resort town on the coast, moodily riding his motorcycle over the countryside and sharing philosophical musings with Antonio (Francisco Rabal), a magnetic older man who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Romantic and sexual complexities brought on by the rivalry between these two attractive women add to Paul’s malaise. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie GuideRead More »

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