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Paul is married, a successful engineer, and a conservative candidate in an upcoming local election. He falls in love with Adriana, a café waitress from Italy. Paul's party is very critical of foreign labour and wants to keep Switzerland to the Swiss. Where Paul falls deeper and deeper into the relationship and is ready to leave his wife, Adriana feels the social pressure growing and has to make her own decision.

The key to understanding this film is in its title as the character Paul is unable to imagine a world that he is not the center of. He&#39;s a successful engineer and family man being groomed for political office. Clearly, he is used to having whatever he wants. This attitude transfers to his adulterous relationship with Adriana, a quietly inexpressive recent immigrant. In the beginning, she seems impressed with his easy confidence but as time goes on it becomes increasingly clear that she isn&#39;t interested in the role he wants her to play. Paul is so self- absorbed that he seems unable to conceive of this difference and he disregards her unhappiness with his lack of effort in knowing her as an individual as opposed to using her to fill his own needs. The Middle of the World is a film that covers familiar territory; such unbalanced relationships often tend to appear in films. Usually, this would appear as a subplot in a film, though, rather than being the sole narrative. Tanner&#39;s focus on the relationship itself allows him to make his point especially clear. Also helpful is his style here, as he tends to place his two characters in unpopulated landscapes and deserted streets as a visual metaphor for the characters&#39; conflicting mental states. Paul has so thoroughly internalized a self-centered worldview that the presence of other people is unimportant while Adriana feels isolated in a foreign land. Strangely enough, The Middle of the World seems more visually accomplished than either of the two later Tanner films I&#39;ve seen. Unlike Jonas Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 or A Flame in My Heart, The Middle of the World has a consistently developed aesthetic that greatly increases the effectiveness of its narrative. It also paints a harsh portrait of bourgeois self-absorption.

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The Middle of the World

Alain Tanner&#39;s &quot;Middle Of The World&quot; (1974) is a relaxing, meditative film that chronicles the 112-days-long (we&#39;re told this information from the start) affair between a Swiss engineer / political candidate and an Italian waitress. Tanner is an auteur: the film is highly personalized, and categorically not of wide audience appeal. Yet the landscapes are inviting (and so is the weather, for fans of snow and winter), some of the dialogue has a deadpan sense of humor, and Olimpia Carlisi is really beautiful. At 111 minutes it is a long sit, but if you&#39;re looking for something quiet this fits the bill. **1/2 out of 4.

User reviews

The Middle of the World

Portrait of a self-absorbed man

A very atypical "meet cute"

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