The Wall (original title ''Le Mur'') is a 1998 Belgian tragicomedy film, directed by

Alain Berliner Alain Berliner (born 21 February 1963) is a Belgian film director best known for the 1997 film '' Ma vie en rose'', which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Gold ...

for the 2000, Seen By... series. The story is a surreal

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

of the bi-lingual problems in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Plot

Belgium, 1999. Albert is a 35-year old Walloon philosopher who works as a

Belgian fries Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

salesman. His store is located right on the Belgian

language border A language border or language boundary is the line separating two language areas. The term is generally meant to imply a lack of mutual intelligibility between the two languages. If two adjacent languages or dialects are mutually intelligible, n ...

. He serves his customers in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and bakes his fries in

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

. Albert fancies the Flemish woman Wendy. After a new year celebration Albert wakes up and discovers to his horror that overnight a giant wall has been built on the language border, effectively separating Flanders from Wallonia. His store is therefore cut in half. As a citizen of Wallonia he is only able to travel to Flanders by using a visa...

Production

The film was made for the 2000, Seen By... project,Le Mur
" ''Haut et Court'', URL accessed 15 August 2016. initiated by the French company Hout et Court to produce films depicting the approaching turn of the millennium seen from the perspectives of 10 different countries.Yoram Allon, Del Cullen, Hannah Patterson, ''Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide'', Wallflower Press, 2002, p. 367.

Cast

* Daniel Hanssens: Albert * Pascale Bal: Wendy * Mil Seghers: Marcel * Michael Pas: Stijn * Peter Michel: Ivo * Damien Gillard: Didier * Peter Rouffaer: Fred * Harry Cleven: Gréviste * Dett Peyskens: Nicole * Laurence Bibot: Journalist * Daniël Van Avermaet: Negotiator * Emile Ringoot: Soldier * Bruno Van De Voorde: Flemish man * François Lahaye: Walloon woman *

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...

: Mel *

Michèle Laroque Michèle Laroque (; born 15 June 1960) is a French actress, comedienne, humorist, film producer, producer and screenwriter. Early life Michèle Laroque was born in Nice in the department of Alpes-Maritimes. She is the daughter of Romanian danc ...

: The TV announcer

References

External links

* * http://alainberliner.com/site/cat-en/features/le-mur/ * http://moria.co.nz/fantasy/wall1998-lemur.htm 1998 films Belgian satirical films Belgian political satire films Belgian drama films Belgian comedy films Belgian romance films Dystopian films Films set in Belgium Films shot in Belgium Films set in the 1990s Films directed by Alain Berliner {{Belgium-film-stub