The Sleeping Man

There are very few films adapted from Perec's works. In 1974, the young French director Bernard Queysanne's debut film "The Sleeping Man" adapted from Perec's novel should be considered the most famous one. The film won the French Jean Vigo Award that year. This black-and-white film with a prose style tells the story of an ordinary young student who plans to isolate himself from the world in the noisy city to experience the most simplified life. As time goes by, his life becomes more and more monotonous and his behavior becomes more and more mechanical. However, in his heart, he can observe the world more clearly. He continues to meditate and meditate every day. It is like walking in the streets of Paris, communicating with all kinds of people, and thinking about his previous life state... The style of the entire film is very similar to Duras's works from the 1970s. There is not a single line of dialogue in the entire film, only the actions of the characters, imaginary scenes and extremely long shots, as well as a large number of voice-overs, with a female voice reading the male protagonist's daily diary in French. This is undoubtedly a personal and stylized experimental film. There are many other aspects of the film such as photography and editing that are worth looking at.