Well, so on the first day... so the film was to be shot in 1.66.
And so I get there four or five days before
the shoot, so that Tony could show me the sets.
It was supposed to be filmed with an Italian team,
except the image team which was French, which was my team.
And in the end... And there were a few other French people.
[Q] This is "Mademoiselle"? No, it's...
[Q] It's "The Sailor from Gibraltar"? "The Sailor", "Mademoiselle" was finished.
"Mademoiselle" was finished, yes. So "Mademoiselle" had the particularity of being
a film that had... Since everyone looked to single themselves out from others,
"Mademoiselle" was a series, filmed only in static shots.
And the only panoramic shot was the credit titles but they shot it again, because it seemed...
They filmed it again in static shot. Well, it was one of those things.
At the time they were always looking to dissociate the image, even though there were loads of other
ways never used to make a different image. It was... So it was when we went from a 1.66 frame to
a 1.85 frame, later on we were doing flashing photos, and then some slightly bluer ones,
then some slightly pinker ones. So loads of things with no meaning.
At the time, when we were filming, 1.66 was in fashion and so they had said... We're only going to
do static shots. So I get there, I quickly meet Tony and he says,
'So tomorrow we're going to Florence' – so we were in Rome – 'tomorrow were going to Florence,
you'll come in my car, because I have something to tell you'.
So I get into his car the next morning, and we take the motorway to Florence.
And I didn't know Tony very well, he doesn't make a sound, he doesn't say anything.
And in the end at one point I see signs saying 'Firenze', 'Firenze'. So I say, 'Tell me Tony,
you made me get into your car because you have things to tell me, we're getting to Florence,
you still haven't told me anything'.
And he says, 'Yes, listen, I saw a film yesterday that I made earlier called "The Lost One",
and it was shot in 1.66,
but it felt like I was watching a film in 8 mm.
So I would like us to do...
I would like us to do "The Sailor from Gibraltar" in cinemascope'.
I said, 'Listen, you don't realise... we start filming in four days'.
All the tests are done with the two machines we have.
So we get out, and in Florence there were no telephone boxes, inevitably, not to ruin the aesthetic.
I remember, we had to find somewhere to call France, to call my assistant,
we went into a shop that sold gloves, gloves and handbags, we asked if we could call France,
he agreed, but it was out the question that we buy any gloves, that was out of the question.
And his wife was quite nice, so I called my assistant and he says, 'Oh, I'm really happy
the equipment is at the customs'.
So I tell him, 'Go pick it up, because we're going to do a film in scope'.
So eventually, he went to pick it up.
And naturally, the guy wasn't very happy, because he said, 'But either way I'm going to take it apart,
we're going to do everything with the collimator because I won't have time to send the stuff back,
it needs to leave tomorrow'. So he changed everything, sent off the equipment.