JONAH WHO WILL BE 25 IN THE YEAR 2000
Switzerland, 1976, 116 minutes, Colour.
Jean- Luc Bideau, Myriam Boyer, Miou- Miou.
Directed by Alain Tanner.
Jonah Who Will Be 25 In The Year 2000 is the work of Swiss-writer-director, Alain Tanner. The screenplay was co-written with John Berger. Tanner has explored contemporary themes, with the wry touch, sometimes with a futuristic interest in such films as In The White City, Light Years Way.
This is a film of the mid-70s. Characters reminisce about the period from 1961, the changes in their lifestyle since then, their stances and their hopes for the future. Jonah, the child born, will be 25 in the year 2000, a world which these young adults are shaping.
The film is stylised, focuses on the gallery of characters and their interactions. There are also some symbolic sequences, some black and white sequences which indicate imagination and fantasy. The film is offbeat, comic, satiric, gentle - and has complex dialogue where many of the characters mouthe, at great length, their reflections on life, history, politics, religion.
The film was very well received - and is an interesting example of Swiss film-making of the '70s.
1. The film accepted as a classic comedy drama? Tanner? His Swiss background and interests? disillusionment, hopes?
2. The work of Alain Tanner? Experience, disillusionment? The atmosphere of Switzerland, the city, the countryside, the people?
3. The authentic atmosphere of the film? Its realism? The inserts: history, government, passions? fantasies?
4. The black and white dreams and fantasies? The importance of the dialogue: its heady content and style, reflections on the meaning of life? History? Change? Government, authority and rules? Fascism? Bureaucracy? Poison? Antidevelopment? Gambling? Nature and industry? Growth? Children? Education, and play? The future?
5. The interplay of visuals and verbal sequences and their effect? The European style and tone of the film? The memory of the 1960s and the revolutionary atmosphere? The settling down of the 1970s? The age of the protagonists? The changes in their own life and lifestyle? Hopes and compromises? Their contribution to the next generation?
6. The 60s, 1968 and their involvement, regrets? Their taking stock? The serious and the funny in their reflections?
7. The background of Rousseau, his statue, the quotations?
8. The eight characters and their interplay, with names all starting with M? The film introducing each to the audience? Their meetings? Their being drawn on the wall - as part of the image of the times? The theme of the shades, new birth, comb images? Social comment?
9. The characters:
- Matthieu: typesetter, working in the garden?
- Mathilde and the children? work in the factory? Teaching, the visit to the classroom?
- Max: proof-reader, propensity for gambling, plotting, the government bureaucracy and the takeover of the land, participating, covering of the plot? His relationship with women? With Madeleine? Madeleine: Tantric Yoga, her mark in the bank, her presence at the casino, discussion with Max, the band with him, sexual liaison, giving him the information?
- Marcel and Marguerite: the gardens, the whales? work, children, Marcel's philosophy?
- Marco: teaching, history and the black sausage, the response of the students, his relationship with Marie, meeting in the supermarket? The old people's home, music, and entertaining them? prison, his love for her?
- Marie: French, working in Switzerland, going home to Annecy? Supermarket, her belief in prices, giving people what they can afford, her sharing the home with the pensioner, delight and dance with him? Her visit to the classroom? her being questioned? The rules, love for Marco, her imprisonment and release?
- Matthieu and the birth of Jonah? His future? As influenced by these people?
12. The film as a fable about the 20th century? About Europeans? The variety of traditions and attitudes? Stocktaking in the latter part of the 20th century?
