Feature film
Equator
Équateur
Serge Gainsbourg · 1983
Synopsis
Joseph Timar arrives in Gabon with a letter of recommendation that does not win him the promised post. He settles in the only European hotel in Libreville, run by Adèle and her husband Eugène, who is dying; Adèle becomes his mistress on the very first day. Soon afterwards, a young Black servant is murdered with a weapon belonging to Eugène, and the small white community closes ranks. Timar, who knows what happened, gradually slides into idleness.
Context
The film adapts a 1933 novel by Georges Simenon, co-author of the screenplay according to Offi. It is co-produced by France, West Germany and Gabon, with Gaumont, TF1 Films Production and Corso Productions; the director also writes its music, and Willy Kurant is credited with the cinematography. Patrick Dewaere was to play the role of Timar, which Francis Huster takes over; Barbara Sukowa plays Adèle. The film was released in France on 17 August 1983; the sources place the action in the 1930s or the 1950s.
Who it is for
A film in French, one hour and twenty-five minutes long, about the small colonial society of Libreville and its silences.
Prizes and reception
Shown out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983, where its director was booed, then at Locarno; a critical and commercial failure on its release.