The films “Apocalypse Now” (Francis Ford Coppola) and “The English Patient” (Anthony Mighella) are based on the literary masterpieces Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad and The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje. In this paper, we will firstly discuss filmic format ‘dislocations’ in relation to the themes of imperialism and war in the novels. Secondly, we will deal with the act of rewriting a novel into a screenplay using the concepts of obligatory and non-obligatory shifts. We will furthermore analyse literary and filmic specificity so as to define the extent of ‘obligatoriness’ and ‘non-obligatoriness’ in shifts. In order to do this, two other notions from the Israeli Polysystemic School (Itamar Even-Zohar) will be introduced: transference and repertoire. Also known as the Tel Aviv Axis in the Translation and Semiotic Studies field, the Polysystemic School has been undergoing a severe conceptual crisis over the last ten to fifteen years. In this case study (Conrad-Coppola-Ondaatje-Minghella), we will point out experimental connections between Polysystemics and Filmic Narratology (André Gaudreault and François Jost). Finally, we will try to show how systemic models of analysis can be enriched with notions such as figurativization, narrativization, and diegetization, all three derived from current French narratological models.