Alain Tanner S La Salamandre The Most Welcome Movie Reference Of The Week

• Jean-Luc Bideau and Bulle Ogier in La Salamandre

Of the numerous films referenced in Sébastien Betbeder’s 2 Autumns, 3 Winters (which I discussed a few days ago), La Salamandre (1971) might be the least familiar to contemporary U.S. audiences. Yet Alain Tanner, who wrote and directed it, was a prolific figure from the late 1960s to the early 2000s—and until the mid ’80s, his work frequently played in the U.S. Alas, his last dozen or so films are virtually impossible to see in this country, and even his 70s titles rarely get discussed here anymore. In the unlikely event that 2 Autumns becomes a sleeper hit in U.S. art houses, perhaps it will lead to a renewed American interest in the Swiss filmmaker’s work. Until that happens, you can find five of his movies on VHS at Facets Multimedia (Odd Obsession Movies has four of them, and the Chicago Public Library has three).