France, 1962
29m
35mm, black and white
mono, French
A French science fiction film directed by Chris Marker. The story is told in a series of black and white still 35mm photographs with one very brief shot shot on traditional 35mm movie film.
Plot Summary
In a post-apocalyptic Paris, a man haunted by a childhood memory of a man being shot to death at an airport takes part in a time travel experiment to see if he can retrieve both much needed supplies and some sort of explanation for the catastrophe that has ruined his world. In the past, he falls in love with a woman he meets and finds that his fate is inextricably tied up with his memories.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Chris Marker
Argos-Films presents with the participation of the search services of R.T.F. A photo-roman by Chris Marker
Written by: Chris Marker
Photography: Jean Chiabaud
Micromatières: Jean-Pierre Sudre
Editor: Jean Ravel
Music by: Trevor Duncan
Music Performed by: Choirs of the Cathedral of St Alexandre Newski
Special Effects: DSA
Cast
Jean Negroni (narrator)
Hélène Chatelain
Davos Hanich
Jacques Ledoux
André Heinrich
Jacques Branchu
Pierre Joffroy
Etienne Becker
Philbert Von Lifchitz
Ligia Borowczyk
Links
Remake
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Press
1965
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.32 no.378 (July 1965) p.114
Composed entirely of still photographs, this brilliant and fascinating film opens the way to endless speculation about the nature of time in relation to images which, like those of the cinema, are always in the present. In this film, visual images literally transcend time. The patient remembers the real pre-war past, and the images of it-a real room, real children, real birds, real cats, real tombs constitute what is surely the most moving passage ever to take place in a science fiction film. But if reality is made of images, there is, as Marker goes on to show, the possibility of a whole new world waiting to be built upon a single poignant recollection. […] Marker’s film […] presents the kind of paradox that, explored in any direction, makes sense. The commentary on its own stands up to the most thorough examination in much the same way as a poem does. As a short film it remains almost unique in being quite comparable with Alain Resnais’ more extensive treatments of similar themes.”
Film Quarterly vol.19 no.2 (Winter 1965/1966) p. 50
I cannot escape the feeling that La Jetée is a great film, and will last: a film so rich in emotional complexity and in its mastery of form that it will compel our attention beyond anything I have seen since The Silence. It is a film of heart-breaking nostalgia – nostalgia for the ordinary life, the ordinary loves, of our present. […] The stilled images have a terrible documented quality, accentuated by their graininess. […] This is a different kind of effect from that of a normal film record (the technical term is “live photography”) of people who are now dead. Such records are comforting. They stir our animistic unconscious feelings, and we are faintly reassured, as if to say, “Well with this fine film they are not entirely dead after all.” Marker’s technique forecloses all such easy reaction possibilities. […] The overwhelming point of La Jetée is the simple, awesome difference between being alive and being dead. – from a review by Ernest Callenbach
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein no.11 p.6
- Cinématheque no.12 (1997) – article (Un film “lazaréen”: La Jetée de Chris Marker by Jean-Luc Alpigiano)
- Film Quarterly vol.19 no.2 (Winter 1965/1966) p.50 – review (by Ernest Callenbach)
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.32 no.378 (July 1965) p.114 – credits, synopsis, review
- The Movie pp.1214-1215 – credits, review
- Positif no.433 (March 1997) – article (Le présent du futut sur La Jetée by Barthélemy Amengual)
Books
- 500 Essential Cult Movies: The Ultimate Guide by Jennifer Eiss with J.P. Rutter and Steve White p.362 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction by Phil Hardy (ed) pp.222-223
- BFI Screen Guides: 100 Science Fiction Films by Barry Keith Grant pp.91-92
- Caligari’s Children: The Film as Tale of Terror by Siegbert Solomon Prawer pp.79, 80, 81, 235, 250
- Film as a Subversive Art by Amos Vogel p.23 – review
- French Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Pulp Fiction by Jean-Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier p.67
- The Ghost of One’s Self: Doppelgangers in Mystery, Horror and Science Fiction Films by Paul Meehan pp.180, 182
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.205
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.231 – credits
- Sci-fi Chronicles by Guy Haley (ed.) p.203
