Alain Tanner and the Swiss unease

by Thomas Kadelbach

Thomas Kadelbach, né en 1979. Après des études d'histoire et littérature française à Angers, Fribourg et Madrid, il collabore au projet de recherche FNS Les relations culturelles internationales de la Suisse, 1945-1990. Thèse de doctorat sur Pro Helvetia et l'image de la Suisse à l'étranger. Actuellement collaborateur scientifique à l'Université de Neuchâtel.
, Thomas Kadelbach, born in 1979. Studied history and French literature in Angers, Fribourg and Madrid. Research assistant in the SNSF research project Switzerland's International Cultural Relations, 1945-1990. PhD thesis on Pro Helvetia and the image of Switzerland abroad. Currently scientific collaborator at the University of Neuchâtel.

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Alain Tanner was a pioneer of the New Swiss Cinema. In 1969, his movie Charles mort ou vif reaches an international audience, assuring Switzerland its place in cinematic history. The movie tells the story of an entrepreneur, Charles Dé, who vanishes shortly before the 100th anniversary of his firm. It is carried by actor François Simon’s extraordinary performance and charisma and, as a cinematic manifesto, reflects the spirit of May 68.

© Alain Tanner

"Charles mort ou vif", 1969

Alain Tanner was a pioneer of the New Swiss Cinema. In 1969, his movie Charles mort ou vif reaches an international audience, assuring Switzerland its place in cinematic history. The movie tells the story of an entrepreneur, Charles Dé, who vanishes shortly before the 100th anniversary of his firm. It is carried by actor François Simon’s extraordinary performance and charisma and, as a cinematic manifesto, reflects the spirit of May 68.

© Alain Tanner

"Charles mort ou vif", 1969

In most of Alain Tanner’s films it is the mad and the marginalised, who elucidate the absurdity of the „normal“ world. Society appears as suicidal, and those who withdraw turn out to be more useful than those who throw themselves head on into it.

Final scene of Charles mort ou vif, 1969

© Alain Tanner

"La Salamandre", 1971

Alain Tanner’s film La salamandre is shown in the USA in spring 1972. The American press perceives it just like Charles mort ou vif as an unsettling component of Switzerland's image.

Article in The Sun, Baltimore, 5.3.1973

Swiss Federal Archives E 2200.36 1996/251, Vol. 102

Alain Tanner’s films as cultural exports

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Poster, Pro Helvetia 1984

Alain Tanner, Charles mort ou vif

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