Dans la ville blanche
Alain Tanner
"I went to Bruno Ganz without a script. I just had a character in mind: an engineer on a freighter. He jumps ship in Lisbon. He is called Paul. He meets a waitress called Rosa. Without forgetting to send his wife Elisa, who lives on the banks of the Rhine, videocassettes as letters. It is clear that he loves these two women and Lisbon" (Alain Tanner).
With : Bruno Ganz, Francisco Baiao, José Carvalho, Victor Costa, Pedro Efe, Lidia Franco
Screenplay : Alain Tanner
Image : Acácio de Almeida
Sound : Jean-Paul Mugel
Decors : Maria José Branco
Editing : Laurent Uhler
Music : Jean-Luc Barbier
Screenplay : Alain Tanner
Image : Acácio de Almeida
Sound : Jean-Paul Mugel
Decors : Maria José Branco
Editing : Laurent Uhler
Music : Jean-Luc Barbier
Production : Filmograph (Genève), Metro Filmes (Lisbonne)
Distribution: MK2
Distribution: MK2
Dans la Ville blanche (In the White City) is inspired by a love for Lisbon and by actor Bruno Ganz. "Firstly, Ganz is Swiss. He is from peasant stock, he has kept a straightforwardness which comes to the surface not only on screen, but during the shoot. At the same time, he has a certain madness just waiting to burst out. That was necessary for me insofar as Pierre, his character, seemed to me to be more a ships engineer than a poet. [...] If he hadn't agreed I wouldn't have made Dans la Ville blanche. The inspiration of the moment played a capital role. Dans la Ville blanche follows light, humour, desires. We wrote the dialogues in the morning. Or the evening before if Ganz had to translate the parts that I wanted in German, such as the letters to the absent wife" (Alain Tanner).