Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for The Man Who Sleeps (1974) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Jacques Spiesser, Ludmila Mikaël DIRECTOR: Bernard Queysanne MUSIC: Philippe Drogoz, Eugénie Kuffler PRODUCTION: Dovidis, SATPEC

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for The Man Who Sleeps (1974). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Pre-Production

Queysanne pitched the film as, "three different works, image, text, sound, which form a story, a story which creates emotion," while Perec pitched it as "a feature film where there is only one character, no story, no events, no dialogue, but only a text read by voice-over." Additionally, the pair was able to get funds from SATPEC, a production company based in Queysanne's home country of Tunisia.

▸ Filming & Locations

Principal photography was done in Paris, France, primarily in a one-room chambre de bonne rented by the title character. In the room, he is recorded reading the works of Raymond Aron and Henri Lefebvre, two of the directors' favorite authors. He is also recorded roaming around fields and public squares, frequently visiting cheap restaurants and cinemas. Other locations include Perec's childhood home in rue Vilin. The pair intended to film in Clichy as well, but abandoned the idea. The film was recorded in black-and-white, despite color film being easily available. Though most of the recording was done in mundane environments, some non-realist settings are also used. Filming was also done in many open environments, such as abandoned classrooms and empty city areas. Perec particularly wished to use travelling shots, citing their influence on his literary work. He also wished to depict the protagonists environment as three-dimensional, organizing the images and drawing a vanishing point in every frame. The film was edited by Andrée Davanture and Agnès Molinard, who attempted to make the film feel fluid and cyclical, ending the film on the same frame it starts with and using slow cross dissolves to transition between shots.

[Filming] Principal photography was done in Paris, France, primarily in a one-room chambre de bonne rented by the title character. In the room, he is recorded reading the works of Raymond Aron and Henri Lefebvre, two of the directors' favorite authors. He is also recorded roaming around fields and public squares, frequently visiting cheap restaurants and cinemas. Other locations include Perec's childhood home in rue Vilin. The pair intended to film in Clichy as well, but abandoned the idea. The film was recorded in black-and-white, despite color film being easily available. Though most of the recording was done in mundane environments, some non-realist settings are also used.