A Cinematographic Metamorphosis of The Way of the World

Abstract: This article focuses on a little-known metamorphosis of Nicolas Bouvier's travel narrative The Way of the World: a cinematic script written jointly with the Swiss filmmaker Peter Ammann in 1972 and entitled "Ouest-Est - voyage en Orient"; this text remained in typewritten form, the film never having been completed. The study first compares the stages of Bouvier's (and his friend Thierry Vernet's) journey with those of the couple of actors in the script, then looks at how the script rewrites The Way of the World before finally developing the thematic contributions of the film script with the book.