In the White City – Alain Tanner

i protagonisti sono Paul (un grande, come sempre, Bruno Ganz), Rosa, l'amante lisboeta ed Elisa, la moglie svizzera. 
in realtà la protagonista assoluta è Lisbona, la città bianca del titolo.
addirittura il film sembra una prova per Lisbon story di Wim Wenders, dieci anni prima, chi li vede entrambi sarà d'accordo.
il film di Alain Tanner è un gioiellino anche per chi è stato a Lisbona, molte cose sono misteriose, sarà il vento dell'oceano che s'incontra col vento delle campagne.
non cercate una trama, non è importante, ve la spiegherà, forse, Paul, voi guardatelo - Ismaele

ps: guardando il film mi sono ricordato di Massimo, in quegli anni era stato in vacanza a Lisbona, Massimo, grande amico mio (e del cinema, della musica, e di molto altro), mi aveva raccontato di una sera, ad Alfama, di quando, dopo cena, tornando in albergo, era stato affrontato da un delinquente con coltello, voleva la macchina fotografica, e l'aveva avuta, meno male.

QUI il film completo, in francese, senza sottotitoli

…Cargado únicamente con su cámara de Super8, un viejo magnetófono y una armónica, Paul es un náufrago que deambula por las laberínticas calles de Lisboa con la única aspiración de suprimir la dimensión espaciotemporal mediante la absoluta inacción, emulando la actitud del extraño anfibio glosado por el escritor argentino. “Me encuentro bien. Soy libre. No hago nada, pero no estoy de vacaciones. De vacaciones se hacen cosas, organizas tu tiempo libre. Yo no, No hago nada”, explica Paul a una desconcertada Élise en una de sus primeras cartas. Y más adelante, en otra misiva, concluye: “El tiempo se ha disuelto. Por las mañanas bebo. Pero ya no hay mañana, tarde ni noche. También bebo por la tarde y por la noche. Duermo de día, nada existe en realidad”…

da qui

…Tanner's 'white city' is, instead, Lisbon – known locally as la ciudad branca due to the colour of many of its buildings. The Portuguese capital is also referred to as 'the city of the seven hills' or 'the mother of sailors,' and each of these nicknames finds illustration in the film narrative. Our hero is Paul (Bruno Ganz), a Swiss-German merchant mariner who, tired of his oceangoing existence, jumps ship and spends his days either exploring the city's many nooks and crannies – tramping up and down what looks like most of those seven hills in the process – or cooling his heels in his airy hotel-room.

Paul often films himself with a miniature 8mm movie-camera, and sends the resulting 'movies' back to his wife/girlfriend Elisa (Julia Vonderlinn) in Switzerland – along with rambling, confessional, ruminative letters. Paul holds nothing back, telling Elisa all about his torrid affair with fiery barmaid/chambermaid Rosa (Teresa Madruga), and how he's able to love two women at the same time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither Elisa nor Rosa are particularly pleased about this situation, and Rosa soon flees Portugal to work in France. Paul is initially distraught but, like a cork on the tide, is able to remain buoyant as he's tossed hither and yon by life's vicissitudes – even after receiving a knife in the chest from a small-time crook previously responsible for stealing his wallet…

da qui

Here is a very literate movie from director Alain Tanner about alienation, self discovery, and time. Paul's escape from responsibility enables him to live totally in the present. He drinks, brawls, dances and takes movies of the city with his Super-8 camera.

The seaman begins an affair with Rosa (Teresa Madruga), who works as a chambermaid and bartender at the hotel where he's staying. But Rosa wants someone other than a person on vacation from reality. Paul shares his innermost thoughts with Elisa (Julia Vonderlinn), a girlfriend back home in Switzerland. Eventually, Paul loses all sense of time and his passivity starts to frighten him.

Tanner, director of La Salamandre and Jonah Who Will be 25 in the Year 2000, draws a top-grade performance from Bruno Ganz; it is a blend of melancholy, pensiveness, sensuality, and ennui. Only after Paul is robbed and wounded by a thief and abandoned by Rosa does he awake from his reverie.

Emerson's thought could serve as an epilogue to this drama: "The efforts which we make to escape from our destiny only serve to lead us back to it."

da qui