Entr'acte (1924)

An absolute dada movie. Somebody gets killed, his coffin gets out of control and after a chase it stops. The person gets out of it and let everybody who followed the coffin dissapear.

Director:

René Clair

Writers:

Francis Picabia (screenplay), René Clair (adaptation)

Stars:

Jean Börlin, Inge Frïss, Francis Picabia

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean Börlin	...	Le chasseur au chapeau tyrolien / Le prestidigitateur
Inge Frïss	...	La ballerine (as Mlle Frïss)
Francis Picabia	...	Un homme qui charge le canon
Marcel Duchamp	...	Un joueur d'échecs
Man Ray	...	Un joueur d'échecs (as Man-Ray)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Darius Milhaud

Storyline

An absolute surrealistic movie. Somebody gets killed, his coffin gets out of control and after a surrelistic chase it stops. The person gets out of it and let everybody who followed the coffin disapear.

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Plot Keywords:

coffin | dada | upside down camera shot | upside down view | rooftop | 

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Genres:

Short

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Details

Official Sites:

DVD

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

20 August 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Антракт

Filming Locations:

Roof, 15 - Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Avenue Montaigne, Paris 8, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Ballets Suedois

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This short is featured on the Criterion Collection DVD for À Nous la Liberté (1931).

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Connections

Featured in What Is Cinema? (2013)

User Reviews

Surrealism and Dada as comedy cinema

Entr'acte is a light-hearted example of Dada cinema of the 1920's. The tone is consistently playful and silly and you can just tell that the film-makers are having a laugh throughout. I'm certainly not too convinced that there is any particular message here. The emphasis of the film is using the cinematic medium to showcase inventive and surreal imagery in an amusing way. The narrative, such as it is, has us follow a funeral march. Although seeing as this is a Dada film, it's not exactly an ordinary march. For one thing it's led by a camel, and for another, the people in the procession bound around in slow motion for no discernible reason other than it looks funny.

The film itself was conceived as something to be shown in an intermission between other films. It clearly was never meant to be taken too seriously, and it's quite obvious that it was made in a way that allowed some of the leading proponents of the Dada/Surrealist movement to have fun and go for laughs. Surrealism was often an art-form with a sense of humour in any case, as anyone familiar with Salvador Dali's work could attest. Like most art films from the 20's Entr'acte has aged remarkably well and like others displays a sensibility that would be replicated many decades later in avant-garde cinema of the 60's and pop videos of the 80's and beyond. All-in-all a fun film to see.