Messidor
Two young women from very different backgrounds journey into the countryside seeking respite from unsatisfactory lives and relationships, but ultimately find that there is no way back to the world they once knew....
Initially entrusted to Maurice Pialat, Messidor is based on an incident that made headlines in 1970’ies when two teenage runaways embarked on a criminal spree that led to their death. In the film, the idyllic Swiss landscape - mountains and cows - is transformed into its opposite – a huge iron curtain that penetrates all and oppresses the youthful yearning of the leads. With Messidor, Tanner was the frontrunner rupturing the stereotypical way of portraying the quotidian, contemporary Switzerland.
de Alain Tanner •
France/Suisse, 1979, 120', vo fr , st ang
Initially entrusted to Maurice Pialat, Messidor is based on an incident that made headlines in 1970’ies when two teenage runaways embarked on a criminal spree that led to their death. In the film, the idyllic Swiss landscape - mountains and cows - is transformed into its opposite – a huge iron curtain that penetrates all and oppresses the youthful yearning of the leads. With Messidor, Tanner was the frontrunner rupturing the stereotypical way of portraying the quotidian, contemporary Switzerland.
Scénario: Alain Tanner • Image: Renato Berta • Montage: Brigitte Sousselier • Son: Bernard Chaumeil, Pierre Gamet • Avec: Clémentine Amouroux, Catherine Rétoré • Production:Citadel Films (n/a)• Distribution:SWISS FILMS (mmueller@swissfilms.ch)