Entr'acte (1924)

Director:

René Clair

Writers:

Francis Picabia (screenplay)
René Clair (adaptation)

Release Date:

4 December 1924 (USA)

Genre:

Short

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Coffin | Dada | Ballet | Slow Motion | Surrealism

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

Also Known As:

Antrakt (Poland) [pl]
Entreacto (Spain) [es]
Intermezzo (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

22 min

Country:

France

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Les Ballets Suedois

Trivia:

The ballet Relâche was performed for the first time at the Théâtre des Champs Elyseés in 1924. It is based on a book and with settings by Francis Picabia, a ballet in two acts commissioned and staged by the Ballets Suédois of Rolf de Maré, choreography by Jean Borlin. This film was shown between the two acts, with music by Erik Satie.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#3.3)" (1990)

Follow that coffin!

Rene Clair and the Marx Brothers once decided to make a movie together: it's a shame that it never happened. Maybe that movie exists in some alternate universe, and I'll bet it's hilarious. I enjoyed "Entr'acte", but I'd gladly trade this film for a chance to see Rene Clair's Marx Brothers movie.

Another IMDb reviewer has synopsised the plot, such as it is: a man apparently dies. After his funeral, his coffin escapes from its hearse, and then the man returns to life. The title "Entr'acte" (an interval between theatrical acts, or an intermission) is never explained; maybe it refers to the interval between that man's two lives. I prefer to think that Clair meant this somewhat amateurish film as a mere intermission: an amusing bit of fun between the acts of his 'real' films; the ones with coherent story lines.

Some of the content in this film truly does seem to be unintentional. After the central character's funeral, there's a stiff wind blowing outside the chapel. The women in this movie wear elaborate long dresses, and the wind animates their clothing in a way that's distracting rather than funny, and surely not meant to be symbolic.

Much of the imagery in this movie seems to be pure Dada rather than signifying anything. The man's funeral cortege is led by a camel. If there's any underlying significance there, I doubt that it amounts to much. Earlier on, I was intrigued by one sequence featuring Parisian chess players. While the camera focuses on the chessboard, a shot of Parisian traffic is superimposed: suggesting that all humanity are pawns in some cosmic chess game.

Don't look for too much meaning in "Entr'acte". It's an amusing experiment, but might have been more effective at a shorter length.