Lot n° 169
Estimation :
800 - 1000
EUR
QUENEAU Raymond (1903-1976).
TAPUSCRITS,... - Lot 169 - Drouot Estimations
QUENEAU Raymond (1903-1976).
TAPUSCRITS, including 3 with autograph corrections, and documents, La Mort en ce jardin, [1956].
Interesting set on Queneau's collaboration with Luis Buñuel for the film La Mort en ce jardin.
The screenplay, based on a novel by José-André Lacour, was written by Queneau, Luis Buñuel and Luis Alcoriza; Raymond Queneau also wrote the dialogues, with the collaboration of Gabriel Arout. The film was shot in Mexico from March to June 1956 and was released in September 1956. The film tells the story of five characters who, after a revolt of miners, embark on a journey through the Amazon jungle. An innkeeper and his deaf-mute daughter, a prostitute, a foreigner and a priest get together to try to reach the Brazilian border. Michel Piccoli, Simone Signoret, Georges Marchal and Charles Vanel play the main roles. Queneau wrote in his diary on October 25, 1955: "For eight days I have been working with Buñuel. Before: a month with Alcoriza. In any case he demolished everything we had done. To say "working with" is very ambitious. It is obvious that Buñuel finds my contribution almost of no importance. [B. is full of ideas, he's always inventing, it's better to have bad ideas than none at all. As for Buñuel, he paid tribute to Queneau's work, "an exceptional writer with a great sense of spoken language. As a screenwriter, he did not like very strong scenes. Neither did I. And I think that, although he acted very professionally, he was not comfortable with this film."
The file includes:
* Correspondence about the film: 7 L.S. (and attachments) from the company Film Dismage to Queneau. One of them rejects a first version of the script: "Buñuel wanted to bring together characters who at the beginning did not like each other for various reasons and who, in front of the difficulties that arose before them, managed to appreciate each other. This line does not appear at all in the adaptation. In fact, I must say that I don't see any line appearing, except for a thin link of adventure that makes this one quite similar to any American B movie.
* Screenplay by Buñuel and Luis Alcoriza (21 p. in-4, double carbon).
* Synopsis of the film (6 p. in-4 with some autograph corrections).
* Typed script with numerous autograph corrections by Queneau and one autograph page (42 p. in-4).
* Second typed version after corrections by Queneau.
* Third version with some autograph corrections.
* Fourth version without corrections (double carbon).
* Final version of the script (and carbon copy) with some autograph corrections by Queneau (85 p.).
* Scenario (Compère copy, cloth back, 105 p.) : 2 copies, one with strikethroughs, additions and autograph corrections.
Bibliography: Dominique Charnay, Queneau dans le jardin de Buñuel. "Je me suis bien emmerdé" (Rennes, la Part commune, 2018).
Attached is the typescript of Queneau's French dialogues for Ingmar BERGMAN's film, Sourires d'une nuit d'été, [1956]: complete mimeographed typescript of the dialogues (67 p. in-4); plus a short introduction (1 p. in-4 dactyl.); the lyrics of the song "Je suis née pour le plaisir" (1 p. in-4 dactyl.). Plus 5 letters from the producer Jean Rossignol, of the Productions cinématographiques I.T.S., to Raymond Queneau (1956); and a typed copy of the credits.
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