L'Atalante (1934)

Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.

Director:

Jean Vigo

Writers:

Jean Guinée (scenario), Albert Riéra (adaptation)

Stars:

Dita Parlo, Jean Dasté, Michel Simon

1 nomination.

Cast

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

Storyline

When Juliette marries Jean, she comes to live with him as he captains a river barge. Besides the two of them, are a cabin boy and the strange old second mate Pere Jules. Soon bored by life on the river, she slips off to see the nightlife when they come to Paris. Angered by this, Jean sets off, leaving Juliette behind. Overcome by grief and longing for his wife, Jean falls into a depression and Pere Jules goes and tries to find Juliette.

---

Plot Keywords:

barge | depression | marriage | underwater | surrealism | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French Russian

Release Date:

21 June 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'Atalante

Filming Locations:

Bassin de la Villette, Paris 19, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jean-Louis Nounez

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Voted as the 12th greatest film of all time in Sight & Sound's 2012 critic's poll.

---

Connections

Referenced in Lie with Me (2005)

User Reviews

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