La Lune avec les dents (Michel Soutter 1966)
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sequence by sequence:
Sequence 1 (interior): bowling alley (Meyrin): William calls Manuela (asking for somewhere to stay, and says he’ll come to ‘la télévision’ at 2)
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Sequence 2, credits (semi-interior): in a tram through Geneva, alongside lake
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Sequence 3 (exterior then interior): William runs past a ‘Carrosserie’ towards his flat (in Carouge), then in his room, alone (voice-over). Chagall poster.
References: William is reading Cesare Pavese’s Le Métier de vivre (but the voice-over text (here) doesn’t seem to come from Pavese’s book)
References: William is reading Cesare Pavese’s Le Métier de vivre (but the voice-over text (here) doesn’t seem to come from Pavese’s book)
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Sequence 4 (interior): William’s room, with friend, an actress, who brings him coffee, apples and a cake (for his saint's day). She admires the view, towards Le Salève (a mountain in France that overlooks Geneva).
References: She sings the first two lines of Goethe's 'Der König in Thule' (see full text here)
References: She sings the first two lines of Goethe's 'Der König in Thule' (see full text here)
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Sequence 6 (exteriors): streets of Geneva: lottery ticket seller; chestnut seller; lakeside (quai de la Poste); footbridge (leading to the place de l'Ile)
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Sequence 7 (interior): buvette near butcher’s; voice over: Manuela singing a melancholic song (lyrics here)
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Sequence 8, insert (interior): Manuela in corridor of offices (‘la télévision’)
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Sequence 9 (exterior): William steals book from lakeside seller, walks past men unloading a lorry
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Sequence 10 (interior): Manuela, with guitar, singing the same song in a different arrangement, in tv office; William comes in for the key to her apartment
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Sequence 11 (semi-interior): bateau-restaurant on the lake: William meets woman (Noëlle Laurencin)
References: William tells Copi’s story of the snail and the old lady; then talks about the death of the hare in Renoir’s La Règle du jeu
References: William tells Copi’s story of the snail and the old lady; then talks about the death of the hare in Renoir’s La Règle du jeu
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Sequence 12, insert: Manuela leaving her apartment. (All of the paintings and drawings in Manuela's apartment are by Genevan artist Pierre Vogel, whose studio this is.)
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Sequence 13 (exterior): on the jetty, William and Noëlle
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Sequence 14 (exterior then interior then exterior): place des Charmilles, outside the Migros supermarket:
William and Noëlle, watched by Michel Vogel, the trainee detective;
in the supermarket, William steals champagne;
then William and Noëlle in the streets towards Manuela’s flat (15, rue du Mont Blanc)
William and Noëlle, watched by Michel Vogel, the trainee detective;
in the supermarket, William steals champagne;
then William and Noëlle in the streets towards Manuela’s flat (15, rue du Mont Blanc)
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Sequence 15 (interior): Manuela’s flat, William and Noëlle, drink tea in the kitchen then go into the living room (Noëlle can’t have sex because she has her period; she dances in front of the painting of 'Madame Röntgen', the complete womea; William slaps her)
References: William asks Noëlle to read an extract from Henri Barbusse’s L’Enfer (here)
References: William asks Noëlle to read an extract from Henri Barbusse’s L’Enfer (here)
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Sequence 16 (exterior): streets (rue des Alpes) towards the railway station (Cornavin), William and Noëlle with the painting of Madame Röntgen); Noëlle takes the tram towards Jussy
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Sequence 17 (interior): office: William and the businessman (his father?)
back-and-forth panning between them; William says he’s going to La Réunion (to Le Tampon)
back-and-forth panning between them; William says he’s going to La Réunion (to Le Tampon)
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Sequence 18 (interior): William’s flat; William and the actress
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Day 2
Sequence 19 (exterior then interior): Place des Charmilles, Migros supermarket; Vogel spying on William, who steals a teddy bear for Noëlle
Sequence 19 (exterior then interior): Place des Charmilles, Migros supermarket; Vogel spying on William, who steals a teddy bear for Noëlle
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Sequence 20 (exterior): Jussy: country road, William on a bicycle; he calls on Noëlle, they talk in the grounds of Noëlle’s house (n.b. zoom out); then William in the country road again
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Sequence 21 (interior then exterior then interior): on the way back from Jussy, William wets his face in toilets, then goes into the Café Marcelly (Thonex): interviewed for the radio (n.b. jump cut)
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Sequence 22 (exterior then interior; three shots, one before the insert , two after): after getting a lift home (where’s the bike?), William in his flat;
INSERT (interior): Noëlle on the landing outside Manuela’s flat, man trying to get to sleep;
References: William sings (in French), smashes up his flat, recites lines from Camus’s play Caligula (here); William writes ‘nada Nadja’ on the window; says ‘merde à tout’
INSERT (interior): Noëlle on the landing outside Manuela’s flat, man trying to get to sleep;
References: William sings (in French), smashes up his flat, recites lines from Camus’s play Caligula (here); William writes ‘nada Nadja’ on the window; says ‘merde à tout’
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Day 3:
Sequence 23 (exteriors): narrator’s voice-over (‘A ce moment précis, la police passe à l’action. William W. en aura pour deux jours. C’est le délai dont va profiter l’Inspecteur Vogel’);
William is ‘arrested’ by Vogel, rue des Charmilles; phone booths; Vogel’s associate arrives; William tells Noëlle he has to go because of some family trouble; he goes with Vogel and associate in their car
Sequence 23 (exteriors): narrator’s voice-over (‘A ce moment précis, la police passe à l’action. William W. en aura pour deux jours. C’est le délai dont va profiter l’Inspecteur Vogel’);
William is ‘arrested’ by Vogel, rue des Charmilles; phone booths; Vogel’s associate arrives; William tells Noëlle he has to go because of some family trouble; he goes with Vogel and associate in their car
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Day 5:
Sequence 24 (exterior then interior then exterior): garage, Vogel borrows a 2CV from a gambling garage owner (who on the phone tells a friend he’s coming to Paris)
Sequence 24 (exterior then interior then exterior): garage, Vogel borrows a 2CV from a gambling garage owner (who on the phone tells a friend he’s coming to Paris)
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Sequence 25 (exterior then interior then exterior): swimming pool (Les Vernets), Vogel and Noëlle, then square outside
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Sequence 26 (exteriors): country roads, Vogel and Noëlle, the 2CV breaks down; then shack (with a man who grows onions)
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Sequence 27 (exterior): Vogel and Noëlle, in the countryside, looking for man with news about William; they hitchhike back to the city
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Sequence 28 (exterior then interior then exterior): Vogel and Noëlle, Air France agency, Place de la Fusterie
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Sequence 29 (interior): Vogel and Noëlle, at Manuela’s flat (see sequence 15)
Noëlle reads the extract from Henri Barbusse’s L’Enfer (see sequence 15)
Noëlle reads the extract from Henri Barbusse’s L’Enfer (see sequence 15)
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Sequence 30 (exterior then interior): Vogel and Noëlle, outside, near modern flats and in the ruined firework factory (zoom out)
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Sequence 31 (semi-interior then exteriors then semi-interior): Vogel and Noëlle, in William's flat, then on balcony; then Vogel chases William; waste ground, Vogel, then Noëlle;
William goes back to flat; on his balcony, looks at camera
William goes back to flat; on his balcony, looks at camera
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This last image appears as a still on an office wall in Soutter's next film, Haschich (1967):
