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Atalante, L' (1934)

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23 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
A Gentle, Contemplative Classic, 16 November 2004
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

There aren't many classics that are as deceptively simple as "L'Atalante". Its gentle, contemplative tone - punctuated by occasional stretches of Michel Simon's antics - conceals a carefully made film with some worthwhile themes that go beyond the story itself. The lavish praises that it sometimes receives have perhaps created unrealistic expectations, which is unfortunate, because it is a fine, though understated, classic.

Jean and Juliette, the two main characters, both have strengths and weaknesses that make them believable. Jean is responsible and disciplined, while Juliette is easygoing and gregarious (which makes her the easiest of the two to appreciate and to sympathize with). But Jean's rigidity and his occasional impatience, in combination with Juliette's naiveté and her occasional impulsiveness, make for difficulties in their relationship.

If they seem boring when compared to the couples in many other movie romances, it is precisely this that makes the film worthwhile. It focuses closely on two ordinary people, without distracting frills or forced social commentary. Most of us are not all that interesting to others, and our lives and problems are usually important only to us. It is part of Jean Vigo's achievement that he takes two such commonplace characters and makes them worth caring about, and by implication he tells us that we are all worth caring about, even if we and our lives may not matter much to others.

By keeping most of the action on board the boat, Vigo not only creates an atmosphere, but also forces the attention onto the characters. Simon's rather exaggerated character is used both to vary the pacing when appropriate, and to respond to the traits and actions of Jean and Juliette. The photography and the score are also used to round out the picture.

It may be true that the film is sometimes over-praised, but in large part that is simply an over-reaction to the unfortunate lack of attention that this kind of classic must so often endure. In an era when so many very weak recent movies have received regular television airings, special edition DVD's with all kinds of pointless "extras", and undeserved critical acclaim, it's all too obvious that movies requiring more effort to appreciate are too often ignored entirely.

Many recent romance movies have tried to use lavish production values, disaster or crisis settings, trendy techniques such as "non-linear" story-telling, and other such devices to cover up a lack of substance. Movies as different as "Titanic" and "The English Patient" (just to name two of many possible examples) use such methods in an attempt to pass off a romantic couple as heroic or admirable, when the characters in actuality are usually self-absorbed, vapid, and truly less worth caring about than Vigo's Jean and Juliette are.

Jean and Juliette, like most of us, know that they are not important in the grand scheme of things, and they are probably rather well aware of their own weaknesses. They are neither saints nor sinners, neither victims nor heroes, they are just human, and therefore worth caring about. "L'Atalante" itself is not "the greatest movie ever made", especially since there is no such thing anyway, but it is a thoughtful and carefully crafted classic that stays with you well after you have seen it.

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14 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
To See Paris and ..., 5 May 2005

Author: Galina from Virginia, USA

"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

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
enchanting, 27 October 2004
Author: postmanwhoalwaysringstwice from usa

Jean Vigo's 1934 work "L'Atalante" has a very timeless quality about it. It is far more visual than much of the early sound films that were released in America or abroad at the time, and really keeps more with the intensely artistic side of much of the best silent works. My eyes were completely transfixed on the screen the entire time, as I enjoyed the brilliant cinematography and took in the realistic, almost tragic, performances of the leads. Being very low on dialogue, or at least pertinent dialogue, and telling a rather simple story, this film may not be for everyone, but I would certainly highly recommend it for anyone who considers film to be an art form. Sadly Vigo dead within months of the film's release, and could not create any more masterpieces.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Tales of the riverbank, 29 August 2004

Author: Gary170459 from Derby, UK

My big problem with "L'Atalante" is how much of what we see and hear was really Jean Vigo's intention (as he didn't finish it) when he was making it? The restored version is the only version and was reconstructed from many disparate bits about 15 years ago, meaning it has had running order interpretations foisted upon it. I think most of the film we see came from the BFI in London, remixed with other clips into some kind of logical sequence by Gaumont in Paris and sold as a Forgotten Masterpiece.

Well, if you can call such luck ending up as a masterpiece it was purely unintentional by Vigo - he didn't see what we do now.

What we have though is definitely a series of relentlessly beautiful, thought-provoking, impressionistic black and white images hung together for 87 minutes with a very flimsy story of 3 people on a barge. The kid was background fluff and doesn't really count. Simon was his usual farcical self, I wish he'd been background as well. Daste and Parla were both later in "La Grande Illusion", can you really forget her as the German widow Elsa in favour of this? The framings and compositions are wonderful to see - how important was it to include distant shots of power stations, cranes etc? Why did Daste stare right into the underwater camera? How come every available surface seems uncomfortable or strewn with bizarre objects or people? Why just the one short aerial shot? And so many other questions which are either pointless or beyond my intelligence; somebody somewhere must know!

I find every time I watch "L'Atalante" it grows on me - I thought it was pants in '91, now I think it's brill! We all move at different speeds - some people will never be able to see this as anything but boring while some people thought it was a classic before they saw it! Whereas I'm still on the voyage of discovery with this one and will definitely watch it again, but not as an indispensable film, more as akin to a trip to the Art Gallery.

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13 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the Greats of Cinema! A Poetic Masterpiece!, 23 June 2000

Author: antonio-21 from New York City

The beauty of this film is undeniable, unfortunately, it was butchered upon release, harming it's initial critical and audience reception. Thankfully! Today, we can glory in the masterful restoration of this true cinema classic. If you know anything about Jean Vigo and his work, you are familiar with his place in cinema history. He is the true "enfant" genius of film.

Zero pour Conduite and L'Atalante are two films which routinely appear on those annoying "Ten Best Films of All Time" lists. Lists which normally seek to squeeze in as many films as possible into 10 slots. (Those Sight & Sound people don't seem to be able to understand what 10 means!) Anyway, if you are a REAL Movie Lover (not somebody who ranks Tarantino or The Sixth Sense as masterpieces, get real) you will come to the films of Jean Vigo at some point in your moviegoing experiences.

Be prepared for poetic visuals which manage to combine the grittiness and mundane of everyday life with flourishes of surreal moments and true romantic splendor which captivate the heart of the movie lover.

This film should not be overly analyzed. Just sit back and enjoy the beauty of this mood piece. Vigo was a genius who could make a filthy barge look like the most beautiful object in movie history! All of the traditional elements are there. The acting and design are perfect without being showy. The cinematography can FINALLY be enjoyed due to the terrific restoration process! WHY ISN'T THIS FILM ON DVD????

But the magic of this film is due only to the indefinable genius that was Jean Vigo. If you truly love movies, you must watch this gem. (but please try your best to see the restored version, it will captivate you!)

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
the most sublime triumph of French cinema I've seen yet (pre New-Wave), 29 January 2007

Author: Filmjack3 from United States

Not to discount the many great French filmmakers that were already around and thriving long before Cashiers du Cinema took over and turned movie-making on its head, but even with the great works of Renoir, Melville or Cocteau, Jean Vigo's only theatrical film L'Atalante struck me immensely for being such a luminous, constantly humorous, everlasting tale of finding the right kind of connection. There's all those details that end up building up in much of the early part of the picture, and it's all practically all predicated on behavior, and how the warm company of others can sometimes also have the flip-side of the cold shoulder. But is it really a sudden turn of distaste for someone, or just insecurity at not being good enough? The relationship between Juliette and Jean is one of the most moving of all screen romances because it keeps everything on a level anyone can cling to, or recognize at the least. Vigo understands not just what beauty can come out of seeing two people who suddenly really find themselves, what they mean for each other against the most minute moments that add up, but how there's so much life, and passion for life around them, it's hard to resist the basic impulses. It's a very mature film about the childish impulses in men and women.

Yet seeing the genre classified as drama/romance is not really correct (it's not one of those easy films to classify anyway). For a film that is touted as a masterpiece of a simple romantic entanglement, on first glance it could seem to be more serious than it really is. If anything, Vigo achieves a sublime level of comedy here, and true 'human' comedy and touches of the absurd in hopelessness, balancing the dramatic parts. Take when Jean, in the midst of his 'what have I done' frame of mind after he abandons Juliette in Paris- when she decides to go off on her own for a night of fun when Jean refuses (tempted by a clownish peddler)- takes a leap into the river and swims around, himself submerged as thoughts fly by with Juliette at one point superimposed to his left. Part of this, of course, is perfectly poetic, illustrating without words (and not needing to) what a mistake can do to a man's psyche not ready to take things on properly. But it's also sort of funny seeing him swimming down there, not feeling a need to come up, even if it's questionable whether he'd really kill himself. It's one of the great love-sick scenes ever.

But by then L'Atalante has kicked into something exactly 'happening', and there's no need for suspense because we'll know what will happen at the end. That's not important part, anyway; here it's to see how how one scene will go into another, or how one shot will suddenly transition into something else- character. In fact, for the first part of the picture we're given just the simplicity life on the L'Atalante ship, where we start to see the tension between husband and wife due partly to Jules- a scraggly old man who is sloppy and a little degenerate, but also loves his many, many cats and cute kittens and just wants some good music to listen to- and how she sort of wastes her time there from time to time. There's a great feeling that comes out too in seeing how both old man and young wife are sort of similar in their moments of escapism, except that Jules has more of a long-lived and much traveled spirit too, while Juliette is like a wide-eyed kid in a candy-store, who can't do too much on such a small ship, and certainly not with the not un-emotional but somewhat estranged husband Jean. I loved the bits between the two of them as well, where there's a moment of peace and happiness- like when Jean finally takes Juliette out to see a song & dance number at the hall- but also the contrasted tension. And when the peddler/singer does tempt Juliette with the ideas of Paris and dances with her, just the look on Jean's face is priceless.

So in the meantime that Vigo gets such rich, daringly but incredibly captivating moments of the light and mundane on the ship (radio channel change, fun on top deck, the accordion to the record not playing, the drunk Jules, the flowers meant for the newlyweds that go overboard), he matches up this to his cast with his style. Michel Simon, already exceptional in Boudu Saves From Drowning, is just a pure delight as Jules, a fool's fool but not an idiot by any means, a performance that is layered even in the broadest strokes. The couple played by Daste and Parlo are also really well cast, as Daste is believable as the professional skipper, but even more so at being completely frustrated- then dazed as hell- at his lack of attention to his wife; Parlo is understandably the honey of (seemingly) every man's eye in Paris, and she too walks a fine line of believable malcontent and happiness. And meanwhile with this, Vigo and Boris Kaufman create indelible cinematic images, like the guy wrestling with himself on the boat where his movements sort of go in a haze like flipping through pages, or the aforementioned superimposition. Or just the total control over the space and angles of scenes (overhead in Jules's apartment, a low-angle when husband & wife exit the dance hall in a huff, the shots of Jean at the bottom of frame isolated, kitten on Simon's shoulder).

In short, not only does it make very clear, in wonderful poetic terms, the power of love, without a convention or typical moment becoming the slightest irksome, as something to be re-evaluated, but that being around people can be the most enjoyable thing in the world, even if it's on a small little steamboat. A++

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Simply Perfect, 17 March 2004
Author: Ben_Cheshire from Oz

Finally saw Vigo's L'Atalante, his only feature film, which he reportedly died before completing, and instantly its one of my top favourite movies and easily one of the best pictures ever made. L'Atalante has everything going for it: its sexy, romantic and incredibly funny. Its also immensely genuine - the performances are so good, you are completely drawn into the action. Which is not to say that L'Atalante isn't imbued with the sense of fun and visual fantasy which makes Vigo's Zero de Conduite so great, in fact, its much more developed here. Vigo gets to tell a complete story in L'Atalante, the only complete story he ever told, and it is wonderful. Aside from its great story and vivid, unique characters, the most remarkable thing about L'Atalante is the masterful way it is directed. Vigo had such an eye for what was cinematic - so much of his stuff is communicated through images, yet when he uses words he uses them well (and for comic purposes here). L'Atalante is simply a beautiful film to look at. It has so many beautifully filmed sequences and images (some favourites: the grammophone music scene, the street seller's scene, the swimming underwater scene, the drunk scene). Surely one of the best shot films ever. Watch where Vigo places his camera, and the multitude of exciting compositions here. L'Atalante is a movie buff's dream come true. I'm so glad i found it, and am eternally grateful to the art gallery for giving me the opportunity to see it. The audience i saw it with had a rollicking good time - we enjoyed it immensely. If you ever see it playing at a revival house, or at an art gallery, i thoroughly recommend you go there and discover Jean Vigo.

A perfect 10/10 - the only one i've ever given.

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11 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Poetic masterpiece, 19 December 1999

Author: Goran-12 from Melbourne, Australia

Arguably the best French film of all time. It can only appeal to those who love the cinema. Its poetic, dream-like effect is truly enchanting and proves that Jean Vigo was a master. Great performances by the whole cast with Michel Simon a standout. Brilliant photography too. A simple, flawless masterpiece.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
images rather than voices, 9 October 2004
Author: Mike Czulinski (mikeczulinski@hotmail.com) from Kitchener, Ontario

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

SPOILERS

Jean and Juliette are newlyweds. They arrive and plan to live on Jean's barge much to the disapproval of her family whom one in the group mentions of Juliette's fetish to differentiate; this is evident throughout the film in which Jean (or the average folk) cannot offer Juliette happiness. She needs spontaneity like Mr. Paris gives her. Or even Jules - though sexually absent - who is able to at least seduce her. Throughout the film we can envision Jean's mindset in how he cannot compete. His character is very dry and we are not drawn to him. Juliette, however, is another story; we are drawn to Dita Parlo much so as we were accustomed to in Renoir's 'Grande Illusion.' Her and Simon produce the best chemistry in the entire film.

In the original 'L'Atalante' script, the character of Jules was not as loud as we seem him depicted. Director Jean Vigo made great choice in casting the very colourful Michel Simon. Simon is the dialogue of this film. His masterful character Jules, makes for a great early blend of charisma and comic relief that is still fresh. We are so drawn to his persona: the cats, the tattoos, and even the friend's hand in the jar are fun, and we laugh. He carries himself to the role so well and brings life to a lifeless matter.

As fun as it is, these things are not Vigo's focus; Boris Kaufman's images are the bravura. Kaufman, who would later go on to photograph 'On the Waterfront', achieves perfection. The quintessential still image in the film is Juliette's walk on the barge in the beginning; black and white have never contrasted so well. The whole water-love thing between Jean and Juliette in the beginning is cute and gives the film more of a gimmick, but also brings another thought to mind. Vigo, who pioneered underwater cinematography in his shorts, gives us a great dream-like sequence. When Jean jumps into the water and finally realizes that he loves Juliette after seeing her angelic image, cinematography has picked up. We are now impressed.

Vigo liked cinematic trickery also, and you can understand through his short work why the censors did not enjoy him; the picture of the naked women in Jules' room is blunt reason, but that sexual reference between Jean and Juliette from bed to bed boarders on the extreme. Wow. Is this 1934? Yes, but not film in 1934. Hardly. I like Orson Welles believe that sex in film is unnecessary, for you cannot "buy it". This sexual reference, however, is an exercise in art and should be studied for its symbolism and trickery. Vigo executes art, not sex.

The music is in top notch form as well. Maurice Jaubert's score illuminates us and sets the tone for every moment in the film. The theme music is so warm and original and forces us to permeate the characters, and actually gives them a sense of neo-realism as if we were to be watching a De Sica film. Off topic, you cannot help but notice during the mob scene in which Juliette gets mugged, the uncanny resemblance to Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis'. It is similar in how the mob swarms the character of Maria. This does not appear to be Vigo's style: particularly the pan behind the gate. But it really is a terrific shot. So this is an excuse I suppose, to say that this film has all the marbles. Vigo - plagued with terrible illness at the time - would have made it big. This film is to show why.

9*/10

Pure virtuoso cinema.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the greatest of all films, 20 April 1999

Author: Jaime N. Christley (j_christley@hotmail.com) from NAS Whidbey Island, WA

Pauline Kael told us that "L'Atalante" was one of those films that are more pleasurable in the memory than while seeing it. Maybe so, but not for me. I knew I was witnessing a masterpiece after the first thirty seconds.

There was not a false step in the whole thing, and many wonderful surprises. There's a brief flash of strange eroticism when Dita Parlo sticks out her tongue at Michel Simon, the old seaman who runs the boat (and I can't even remember why she did it). There's some comedy, with an astoundingly nimble Vaudeville-like cafe performer/one-man-band who serenades Parlo, to her husband's dismay. There's aching heartbreak, with the separated lovers who long for each other so much that it wakes them up in the night and hear each other's yearning. And after all those things, the sensuality, the humor, and the tragedy, the movie just dreams on by as smooth and as fragile as a film can be. I fell in love with it the same way I did with "The Third Man"--the heedless, foolish romanticism just got to me in the end.

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