Films with Lake Geneva as their backdrop are actually quite rare. Yet Swiss and foreign filmmakers regularly set up shop on the shores of the lake to shoot a few scenes. Directors’ relationships with water vary greatly. For some, it’s just a distant backdrop, for others an integral part of the narrative. Unlike the mountain, which is a character in many films, the lake is not an actor in its own right in any fiction, except in the protean work of Godard, who lived on its shores in Rolle. Strangely enough, despite the presence of many talented directors and dream castings, virtually none of the films shot on Lake Geneva’s waters have been a hit with audiences. These films will be remembered only by cinephiles.