Download London Story by Sally Potter

Joanna Flude
Lisa Rogers
Emily Wilson
Craig Worrall
Our chosen director is…
Born in 1949.
An established British director for many years.
Has worked as a director, writer, choreographer, dancer,
composer and performed in films.
Our original idea is to produce a dance film based on…
Summary
Set in Europe the year before WW2 started,
the Man Who Cried is the story of a young
Jewish woman and her relationships with a
Roman Gypsy man, a Russian dancer and an
Italian opera singer. The film expresses
cultural differences, struggle, loss, love,
betrayal and friendship.
Summary
London landmarks are used within this 1986 film. The
short piece shows the relationship between the
government and the arts. “A silent comedy might be,
with bodily gesture and dance doing the work of
sketching in the characters and moving the story along.”
(Screen Online, 2007)
Images from Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photographs of Paris
in the thirties and Josef Koudelka’s portraits of Gypsies in
Eastern Europe formed a visual starting point for the film.
“A film can start from an image, a word, a feeling, a sound. In
this instance, the original impulse came from music. And not
from one single source but from many; from opera, gypsy
music, and Klezmer.”
Screen online, 2007
We intend to use the gypsy music from The Man Who Cried as
a stimuli for the dance phrases in our dance film because music
was such an inspiration to Sally Potter also
Suzie is the main character in the film. She is a Jewish woman,
the heroine. She is lost, driven into silence as her language is
taken away.
Cesar is the conduit into the world of Gypsies. Cesar is from a
culture where family and community are still alive despite the
war and where the aliveness is communicated through music.
Suzie was inspired by Cesar a culture where family and
community are still alive and not destroyed like her Jewish
culture was being.
The 1st film is based on Suzie in the present looking at her
pictures taken during the war.
Example:
The 2nd explores Suzie's memories of her encounters
with Cesar and his gypsy family at the time when the
pictures were taken.
Example:
Choreography: Dance consist of sharp angular movements to
contrast against the background. Intimacy between man and
women when dancing. (London Story)Gypsy Culture &
music. Narrative (Man Who Cried)
Filming: Close up on dress and curves in body. Silhouette
close ups. Facial close ups. Close ups on detail e.g.
photograph. Overhead shots. (London Story)
Editing: The still image (photograph)is projected onto
background. Shots in sepia (London Story) The blackout
effect when man and women get sensual (Man Who Cried)
Evaluation of our progress and how we came to realise our
Ideas through moving images.
Changing idea.
Suzie being an older women.
More dancers for gypsy group shot.

Screen Online (March, 2007)
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/555171/index.html

Sense of Cinema (March, 2007)
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/06/potter.html
Videos
Midnight underground [videorecording]. London suite. (Channel 4,
1993) London Story by Sally Potter. UK: Illuminations.
Potter, S [videorecording] (1998) Tango Lesson. UK: Artificial Eye.
Potter, S [videorecording] (1994) Orlando. London: Electric Pictures.
Potter, S [videorecording] (2000 )The man Who Cried. UK: