En la ciudad de Sylvia (2007)

Director:

José Luis Guerín

Writer:

José Luis Guerín (writer)

Release Date:

14 September 2007 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A man returns to a city to try to track down a lovely woman he met six years earlier. |

Plot Keywords:

Pursuit | Sketching | Street

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Pilar López de Ayala	...	Ella
Xavier Lafitte	...	Él
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michaël Balerdi	...	Un passant
Laurence Cordier
Tanja Czichy	...	Tanja
Gladys Deussner	...	Woman reading a book
Eric Dietrich
Charlotte Dupont
Philippe Ohrel	...	The strange man

Directed by
José Luis Guerín

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
José Luis Guerín		writer

Produced by
Sébastien de Fonseca	....	associate producer
Gaëlle Jones	....	co-producer
Luis Miñarro	....	producer
Cédric Walter	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Natasha Braier

Film Editing by
Núria Esquerra

Casting by
Cristina Campos

Art Direction by
Maite Sánchez

Costume Design by
Míriam Compte

Makeup Department
Pilartxo Díez	....	hair stylist
Marie-Laure Texier	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Livia Arroyo	....	assistant production manager
Anne Bennet	....	production manager
Nico Villarejo Farkas	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Amandine Escoffier	....	second assistant director
Pol Rodríguez	....	first assistant director
Carolina Sá	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Joaquin Jara	....	painter

Sound Department
Ricard Casals	....	sound re-recording mixer
Aleksandra Cheuvreux	....	sound recordist
Marisol Nievas	....	sound editor
Kiku Vidal	....	foley artist
Amanda Villavieja	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Carlos Cabeceran	....	steadicam operator (as Carlos Cabecerán)
Álvaro Fernández	....	first assistant camera
Colas Jourdain	....	grip
Eloi Sánchez	....	second assistant camera
Mitch Spooner	....	gaffer
Jérémy Stone	....	key grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mar Fraga	....	costumer

Music Department
Arthur Bacon	....	musician
Mélanie Bonin	....	musician
Aline Haelberg	....	musician
Migala	....	musician

Other crew
Florence Alexandre	....	production administrator

Production Companies

• Eddie Saeta S.A.
• Château-Rouge Production
• Televisión Española (TVE) (participation)
• Televisió de Catalunya (TV3) (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Institut Català de les Indústries Culturals (in collaboration with)
• Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) (financial support)
• Région Alsace (support)
• Ville de Strasbourg (participation)

Distributors

• Shellac Distribution (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Cameo (2008) (Spain) (DVD)
• Axiom Films (2008) (UK) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Mermaid Film (2010) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Axiom Films (2009) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• CinéAct  development: France
• Plusmusic  music rights
• D.C. Audiovisuel  sound (as DCAudiovisuel)
• TSF  camera equipment provided by
• Technicolor Madrid  laboratory
• Apuntolapospo  post-production: 2K (as ApuntoLapspo)
• Amadeus Postproducció  post-production facilities
• Sonoblok  sound editing
• Agence Culturelle d'Alsace  thanks
• Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores (EGEDA)  support
• Fondation Saint Simon, La  thanks
• TNS  thanks
• Taverne Française, La  thanks

Also Known As:

In the City of Sylvia (Europe: English title) (festival title) (USA) (new title)
Dans la ville de Sylvia (France)

Runtime:

Canada:84 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Spain | France

Language:

French | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:G

Filming Locations:

Café du TNS-Théatre National de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France

Company:

Eddie Saeta S.A.

Soundtrack:

STYLE

An abstract film about a city, its women, and a romantic obsession

After arriving at a city, an artist waits at an outdoor café and anticipates Sylvia's appearance. He then proceeds to follow a girl, but it turns out to be a mistake.

Without much dialogue or dramatic genuflections, viewers may find that José Luis Guerin's latest film takes some time to absorb. Pushing the clichéd man searching for woman narrative aside it is possible to interpret the film from several view points. It is an abstract film about Strasbourg (almost unidentifiable as several languages are heard), it is about observing women (mediated through the male gaze), and may also be seen as simply tracing an obsession.

The title is somewhat misleading as Sylvia remains absent and emerges only as an image (a combination of all the women "elles" the man has sketched) throughout the film. Even the subheadings (the first, second, and third night) are ambiguous as most scenes happen during the daytime. Yet the three parts are ingeniously linked by the café waitress with slightly different but highly related scenes. The ending in which the man follows the waitress suggests a continuation of his romantic search. The narrative ambiguities are successfully compensated by Guerin's reinvention of cinema as a tool to record and provide a vision beyond one's naked eye. Other details, such as the repetitions (the same graffiti and wallet peddler, even the girl's gesture resembles the advertisement model's), sound effects (the woman's footsteps), and use of off-screen space further generate pleasure for perceptive viewers of this light piece.