Narrative technique · used in 6 films
Moving a known story into a new genre, country or era while keeping its core plot, so the familiar skeleton takes on a different meaning.
Examples
Fritz Lang · 1945
The film takes the story of the 1931 French novel La Chienne and Jean Renoir's film of the same name. Lang moves the setting from Paris to Greenwich Village in 1934.
Where to see it: Chris's New York: the cashier's life in Greenwich Village follows the old story in a new country.
Sergio Leone · 1964
Leone moves a Japanese samurai story to the Old West. The wandering lone fighter and two rival clans become a nameless gunslinger and two smuggling families.
Where to see it: The two families: The Stranger sees the Rojos and the Baxters feuding for control of San Miguel and decides to make money by playing them against each other.
Robert Altman · 1993
Raymond Carver wrote about working people in the Pacific Northwest. Altman moves his stories to Los Angeles and weaves them together. The familiar plots of drinking, cheating and sudden grief take on a different edge in a big sunny city.
Where to see it: The Casey storyline: a boy is hit by a car on his birthday and seems fine, then falls unconscious. His parents wait at the hospital while the baker keeps calling about the birthday cake.
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 2004
The Coens' remake of a 1955 British comedy moves the story to the American South. A garbage barge under a bridge replaces the goods train of the original. The gang poses as an early-music ensemble in a Mississippi widow's home.
Where to see it: The garbage barge scenes. The gang dumps what they dig up from the bridge onto a passing barge below.
Pablo Berger · 2012
Berger moves Snow White to 1920s Andalusia and swaps the forest cottage for the bullring. The dwarfs are bullfighters, and the poisoned apple remains. The familiar plot takes on a new, grim meaning.
Where to see it: The troupe. Bullfighters with dwarfism find Carmen floating downstream and name her Blancanieves.
Luca Guadagnino · 2015
The film takes the skeleton of La Piscine and sets it on the Italian island of Pantelleria with a rock star and a record producer. The story of four people at a villa stays the same, and the new setting changes how it feels.
Where to see it: The pool death. Harry returns late, fights Paul beside the pool, and they fall in, where Paul holds him underwater.
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