Love as a dream in a masterpiece of poetic realism and one of the best films ever made. Screening as part of the retrospective programme of the Festival of Singular Films.
L’Atalante
- Date:
- 25 Sep 2024,
16:00–17:25
- Age restrictions
- 16+
1934, Jean Vigo
France
85 minutes, French with Russian subtitles
Starring: Dita Parlo, Jean Dasté, Michel Simon, Louis Lefebvre
T
“In the water, you can see the face of your true love,” Juliette says to Jean. Jean is the captain of the barge L’Atalante, and he and Juliette plan to live on board, in the company of an elderly bosun and a young boy. But Juliette soon becomes tired of the endless rivers and shores.
Shot from L’Atalante, 1934
L’Atalante is the world in springtime — a place where shimmering reflections, smoky breezes, empty streets, and a free-floating sense of erotic energy are the essence of life and of movies.
— J. Hoberman, Village Voice
The plot of L’Atalante sounds like a standard romantic melodrama—which is exactly what the producers hoped it would be. But Jean Vigo, son of the anarchist Miguel Almereyda, brings so much formal freedom to this story that his only feature-length film does not fit into any conventional framework—and despite its enormous influence on the history of cinema, in many ways it remains unique.
Vigo is not satisfied with either reality or fantasy in isolation: in L’Atalante, the former is intricately intertwined with the latter, so that the film has a dreamlike feeling, at times supernaturally lucid, at times surrealistically restless. The director also pulls no punches: the love that Jean and Juliette feel for each other is imbued with an eroticism so blatant that some of the film cuts can be felt almost tactilely.
Vigo’s death from a lung disease contracted on the set, which aggravated his tuberculosis, is one of the most tragic chapters in the history of cinema. But although Vigo’s career and life were cut short, for almost a century L’Atlante has regularly appeared on lists of the best films of all time.
The screening will begin with a brief speech by the curator in Russian. If you require interpretation into English, please request it at least three days in advance by emailing international@ges-2.org.
