Entr'acte

Entr'acte is a silent French Dada short film directed by René Clair. It premiered on 4 December 1924 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris as a prologue and entr'acte for the Ballets Suédois production of Relâche, based on a book by Francis Picabia, which had settings by Picabia, was produced by Rolf de Maré, and was choreographed by Jean Börlin. The music for both the ballet and the film was composed by Erik Satie. Summary Prologue On a rooftop, a cannon, via stop motion photography, rolls itself back and forth. In slow motion, two men (Francis Picabia and Eric Satie), jump into the frame and jump up and down. They discuss the cannon and, after smelling a projectile, load it before jumping up and down and jumping out of frame in reverse. The projectile slowly comes out of the cannon toward the camera lens. Entr'acte Images are intercut of Parisian rooftops filmed with the camera tilted at various angles, three dolls with balloons-heads that are inflated and deflated, and a ballet dancer dancing on glass seen from below. Two pairs of white boxing gloves spar over daytime and nighttime images of a city square. Matchsticks arrange themselves on a man's head and ignite, causing him to scratch.