Valse Triste is a 1977 five minute experimental collage film by Bruce Conner[1] set to Jean Sibelius's piece of the same name.
[2] An autobiographical take of the filmmaker's childhood in 1940s Kansas with sources that parallels his own life experiences.
The dream is present again; the first shot is a little boy going to sleep, the images that follow are his ‘dream’ about the past, full of trains, cars, factories, typical American suburbs and fences.
The rhythm is quicker, and the sad but vivid waltz on the soundtrack give this film an entire other feel, less dreamlike and more specifically rooted in the nostalgic American past.
[6] The radio show I Love A Mystery (a program Bruce loved as a kid to the tune by Sibelius) also influenced Valse Triste.