DANS LA VILLE BLANCHE  1983
(In the White City)
Directed by Alain Tanner
108 minutes
In French with English subtitles

The films of Swiss director Alain Tanner (Jonas will be 25... ) are some of the sharpest of the last century. Sadly they have been pushed aside and trashed by our commercial film distribution industry. Although his movies are not really political, they are indeed focused on characters who seek alternatives to our mass-media consumer society. People who have had it with compromising, who are tired of the rat-race of modern civilization, and are looking for something more meaningful, sincere, and exciting.

In this film, a sailor (Bruno Ganz - Der Untergang, Wings of Desire) gets fed up with his job, and decides to jump ship and hang out in Lisbon. Today we have a touristic world, where traveling means a quick stop to a foreign city that is filled with everything you already know (Starbucks, international chain stores). But when I used to travel in the 80s, I would go and stay someplace for 4 months minimum. I'd really live in a place, and I was attracted to hang-outs that were unknown, off the beaten track, exotic, and therefore full of mystery. I chose to follow and look for what I didn't know. In this film the main character Paul is doing the same.

Paul spends his time soaking in the atmosphere, and is glad he has escaped the mad crowds and noise of the modern world. He wanders the through streets, marketplaces, pool halls. He shoots 8mm films, writes letters and embraces his solitude. He meets a cute bartender who works downstairs, and they become lovers. This is a moody and reflective movie, one that throws a wrench into the gears of the modern world, and opts for an alternative. Dans la ville blanche is unrushed, set to the pace of Lisbon itself, with sudden poetic and erotic moments, and features a superb lonesome jazz musical score by Jean-Luc Barbierand.