Discontinuous aesthetics as a result of collaborative screenwriting: A genetic approach to John Berger and Alain Tanner's screenplays.

This article investigates the narrative, visual, and sound discontinuities in three New Swiss cinema films directed by Alain Tanner—*La Salamandre*, *Le Milieu du monde*, and *Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000*—through a genetic study of their screenplays. Central to the analysis is the collaborative screenwriting process between Tanner and British art critic and novelist John Berger, whose contributions, particularly regarding gender representation and Brechtian aesthetics, significantly shaped the films' fragmented and politically engaged style. Archival documents from the Swiss National Film Archive reveal that Berger's role was more substantial than Tanner publicly acknowledged, with their tandem writing producing a distinctive form of discontinuity that challenges classical narrative unity. The study highlights how this collaboration influenced Tanner's auteur cinema, blending abstraction and concreteness, and employing techniques such as non-diegetic inserts and thematic fragments to engage viewers critically.