1987 — La Baleine Blanche

The whale acts as a catalyst, revealing buried desires and shifting the social dynamics of the small town.

The documentary follows:

For years, film buffs have whispered about a lost director’s cut. Rumors claim that de Chalonge shot a 3-hour version that included a prologue based on Melville’s text and a surreal ending where Joseph becomes a white whale himself. In 2019, a battered 35mm print was discovered in a warehouse in Lyon. It was screened once at the Cinémathèque Française, then vanished again. la baleine blanche 1987