L'atalante (1934)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Jean Vigo

Writers:

Jean Guinée (writer)
Albert Riéra (dialogue)

Release Date:

21 June 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

When Juliette marries Jean, she comes to live on his ship, on board of which are, besides the two of them...

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Depression | Newlywed | Sailor | Tattoo

Cast

Michel Simon	...	Le père Jules
Dita Parlo	...	Juliette
Jean Dasté	...	Jean
Gilles Margaritis	...	Le camelot
Louis Lefebvre	...	Le gosse
Maurice Gilles	...	Le chef de bureau
Raphaël Diligent	...	Raspoutine, le batelier (as Rafa Diligent)

Also Known As:

Le chaland qui passe

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 (video release) | Spain:7 (DVD release) | Iceland:L | Finland:S (2007) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Bassin de la Villette, Paris 19, Paris, France

Company:

Gaumont-Franco Film-Aubert (G.F.F.A)

Trivia:

Some shots are included in the main title of Italian TV show "Fuori Orario"

Movie Connections:

Featured in Un paradiso di bugie (1996)

To See Paris and ...

"People are strange when you are stranger

Faces look ugly when you're alone

Women seem wicked when you are unwanted

Streets are uneven when you are down…" by Jim Morrsion (1963-1971)

…And city of light and love is dark and depressing when you are there without your beloved.

Director Jean Vigo died young (at 29, of septicemia) just after he finished his third and last film, "L'Atalante" which is one of the screen's great romances, about a young barge captain Jean (Jean Daste), who takes his bride Juliette (Dita Parlo) to live aboard his boat. They are in love, they fight, she disappears to see Paris, he goes searching for her, can not find her, they are both desperate and miserable until the first mate (Michel Simon in a superb comical performance) decides to find her and bring her back…

The film has many magical moments, such as the young man searching for his sweetheart under water or the movie's most erotic scene that display both Jean and Juliette tossing in their lonely beds during one aching night of separation searching for each other, longing for each other, realizing how painful and meaningless life is without the one they love.

Vigo knew that he was dying – "I am killing myself with L'Atalante", he said. His death at 29 is one of the cinema's great losses. We can only imagine what masterpieces he could've created. L'Atalante with its simple compelling story, humanity, intense, lyrical romanticism and candid eroticism shows that Vigo was a visionary and experimentalist of outstanding quality.

Filmmakers as diverse as Francois Truffaut and Lindsay Anderson have acknowledged Vigos's influence on their work.

Highly recommended: 9/10