La Jetée (1962)
"La jetée" (original title)

Time travel, still images, a past, present and future and the aftermath of World War III. The tale of a man, a slave, sent back and forth, in and out of time, to find a solution to the ... See full summary »

Director:

Chris Marker

Writer:

Chris Marker (screenplay)

Stars:

Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean Négroni	...	Narrator (voice)
Hélène Chatelain	...	The Woman
Davos Hanich	...	The Man
Jacques Ledoux	...	The Experimenter
André Heinrich
Jacques Branchu
Pierre Joffroy
Étienne Becker
Philbert von Lifchitz
Ligia Branice	...	A woman from the future (as Ligia Borowczyk)
Janine Klein	...	A woman from the future
William Klein	...	A man from the future (as Bill Klein)
Germano Facetti	...	(as Germano Faccetti)

Storyline

Time travel, still images, a past, present and future and the aftermath of World War III. The tale of a man, a slave, sent back and forth, in and out of time, to find a solution to the world's fate. To replenish its decreasing stocks of food, medicine and energies, and in doing so, resulting in a perpetual memory of a lone female, life, death and past events that are recreated on an airports jetée.

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Plot Keywords:

memory | time travel | future | childhood | childhood memory | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French German

Release Date:

16 February 1962 (France)

Also Known As:

The Pier

Filming Locations:

Orly Airport, Orly, Val-de-Marne, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argos Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

28 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jean Negroni is known to have been the French narrator. But the English version is supposed to have been voiced by William Klein, the "man from the future."

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Quotes

Narrator: Above ground, Paris, like most of the world, was uninhabitable, riddled with radioactivity. The victors stood guard over a kingdom of rats.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening titles it states "Avec la participation du Service de la Recherche de la R.T.F.". For one frame, this changes into "Avec la participation du Service de la Trouvaille de la R.T.F.".

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Connections

Referenced in Twelve Monkeys (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Hymne a la Croix"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Performed by Choirs of the Cathedral of St. Alexander
Courtesy of Disques Philips

User Reviews

Two viewings 30 years apart

I first saw "La Jetee" in an introductory journalism class in the spring of 1973. The class was large, so large, in fact, that it was held in an auditorium rather than a conventional classroom. But when the film ended, there was about 30 seconds of stone-silence before the murmuring began. I sat slack-jawed and stunned and looked at Mary Ann, a girl who sat next to me and who I was slowly becoming friends with, to check her reaction. She looked equally stunned.

Thirty years have passed and I have occasionally revisited that moment. Despite wanting to know Mary Ann better, I was too timid and never saw her again after that semester ended and despite being stunned by the film, for some reason, I had lost track of its title. All I remembered was a haunting scene at an airport with a guy wearing glasses. That was it.

Just the other day and for no reason at all, I remembered the title "La Jetee" out of the blue. The name just popped into my head. And, even stranger, when I was checking the TV listings earlier today, I found that "La Jetee" was being shown on the Sundance Channel later.

I just finished watching it and I am as slack-jawed and stunned as I was thirty years ago. I guess the next logical thing will be to hear from Mary Ann. Just so long as I don't have to meet her at the airport.