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...
Review
With its documentary-like cinematography, typical of Alain Tanner’s characteristic social
realist style, Le Milieu du monde makes a cruel analytic examination of one man’s
deluded love for a woman. Romantic love is, to a greater or lesser extent,
a fiction, where the intensity of the love is determined by the needs and imagination
of the individual who has been struck by Cupid’s arrow. Mutual love is more
commonplace in films and novels than in real life, and it is a refreshing change when
a film defies convention and shows romantic love as is very often is – a misguided obsession
with a very limited life span.
It is surprising how intensely Tanner and his two lead actors (Olimpia Carlisi and Philippe Léotard à la perfection) manage to convince us of both sides in the ill-fated relationship – Adriana’s cool indifference and Paul’s child-like obsession. This is a blindingly realistic depiction of a love affair seen from a totally neutral perspective (emphasised by the raw cinematography of the bleak rural setting), yet, despite its coldness and analytical style, it is still a hugely compelling work.
© James Travers 2002
Write a review for this film...
It is surprising how intensely Tanner and his two lead actors (Olimpia Carlisi and Philippe Léotard à la perfection) manage to convince us of both sides in the ill-fated relationship – Adriana’s cool indifference and Paul’s child-like obsession. This is a blindingly realistic depiction of a love affair seen from a totally neutral perspective (emphasised by the raw cinematography of the bleak rural setting), yet, despite its coldness and analytical style, it is still a hugely compelling work.
© James Travers 2002
Write a review for this film...
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Useful links
- Best French films of 2011
- Best French films of the 2000s
- Best of the French New Wave
- Best of French film comedy
- The best 100 French films
- The most successful French films
- Great French filmmakers
Related links
- The best French romantic films
- Other French films of the 1970s
- The best French films of the 1970s
- Other French romantic films
- Biography and films of Alain Tanner
To buy this film
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Credits
- Director: Alain Tanner
- Script: John Berger, Alain Tanner
- Photo: Renato Berta
- Music: Patrick Moraz
- Cast: Olimpia Carlisi (Adriana), Philippe Léotard (Paul), Juliet Berto (Juliette), Denise Péron (Schmidt), Jacques Denis (Marcel), Roger Jendly (Roger), Gilbert Bahon (Albert), Pierre Walker (Le président ADP), Paul Paquier (Gavault), Adrien Nicati (Le père de Paul)
- Country: France / Switzerland
- Language: French
- Runtime: 115 min
- Aka: The Middle of the World
Similar films
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- La Maman et la putain (1973)
- Masculin, féminin (1966)
- Le Mépris (1963)
- Moderato cantabile (1960)
- Les Nuits fauves (1992)
- Quatre nuits d’un rêveur (1971)
- Le Rouge et le noir (1954)
- La Sirène du Mississippi (1969)
- Un homme et une femme (1966)
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Romance / Drama






