La Jetée (1962)

The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.

Director:

Chris Marker

Stars:

Étienne Becker, Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain

2 wins.

Cast

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

Storyline

Time travel, still images, 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 airport jetty.

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Plot Keywords:

memory | airport | still frame technique | time traveller | boy | 

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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:

La Jetée

Filming Locations:

Galerie De Paléontologie Et D'Anatomie Comparée Du Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle - 2 Rue Buffon, Paris 5, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argos Films, Radio-Télévision Française (RTF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

28 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included on the 2000 Warner DVD of "Short 2".

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: [English version] This is the story of a man marked by an image of his childhood. The violent scene which upset him, and whose meaning he was to grasp only years later, happened on the main pier at Orly, Paris Airport, sometime before the outbreak of World War Three.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits do not describe it as a film, but "un photo-roman."

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Connections

Referenced in Primer (2004)

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Soundtracks

Krestu Tvoyemu
(AKA Tropaire en l'honneur de la Sainte Croix AKA Troparion to the Holy Cross)
Composed by Piotr Gontcharov (uncredited)
Conducted by Piotr V. Spassky
Performed by Choir Of The Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Paris

User Reviews

Brief moments, frozen in time

La Jettée (1962) is not only the most important work of science-fiction cinema since Fritz Lang's masterwork Metropolis (1927), but is also one of the most staggering achievements in the entire history of film. Here, filmmaker Chris Marker presents the audience with the ultimate cinematic dystopia; a futuristic, industrialised landscape of underground tunnels, colourless streets and jarring 60's architecture. The results are beautiful yet somewhat anachronistic, as the filmmaker employs a similar approach to that of Godard in Alphaville (1965) - or more recently, Winterbottom's Code 46 (2003) - albeit, with a less straightforward attitude to plot and ideology.

The basic narrative outline of the film is built around various reflective layers - similar to what Tarkovsky would use in his later film, Mirror (1975) - which allow Marker to create a certain feeling of mirroring between the notions of fact and fiction, life and death, reality and fantasy and so on. This, in turn, further develops the characters and the world of which they inhabit. The reason the film works without becoming a cold, lifeless lecture is because it anchors the images of nuclear holocaust and scientific exploration within humanistic characters and a sense of unashamed romanticism. But this is only one part of an elaborate puzzle; lest we forget that we are dealing with certain narrative paradoxes, not to mention an assortment of linear and non-linear story elements each unfolding simultaneously. Just when we think we've got the whole film worked out, our perspectives immediately change, and our ideas are lost in the blink of an eye.

However, aside from thematic visual palindromes, what is most remarkable about La Jettée - and the reason it has retained its reputation as a work of genius - is the way in which Marker manages to relate his story of travel and movement through the use of still images. By presenting these pictures to us in a sort of photo-montage - complete with brooding voice-over and various sound effects - the director somehow manages to bring the stillness of his film miraculously to life. It is, without question, a work of pure, unadulterated imagination, and a staggering testament to Marker's genius ability to convey a multitude of feelings, ideas and emotions, through a series of simple, static, though nonetheless, deeply evocative images.