History of art is full of artists who died before their time, leaving future generations to ponder what unproduced masterpieces they can’t enjoy. One of the more notable examples in the world of cinema is provided by Jean Vigo, French director who succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 29. His filmography was very short but it had huge impact on later film makers in France and the rest of the world. The last of his films, 1934 romantic drama L’Atalante, is often considered to be not only his best, but among the greatest films ever made.
The plot begins in small village where Jean (played by Jean Dasté), young captain of the river barge L’Atalante, marries Juliette (played by Dita Parlo), young girl. Newlyweds are about to spend their honeymoon on the barge, together with Jean’s crew – old and eccentric Père Jules (played by Michel Simon) and young cabin boy (played by Louis Lefevbre). Those two aren’t accustomed to woman on board, which causes all kinds of misunderstandings, but real problems arise when the barge starts approaching Paris. Juliette, who had never left her village before meeting Jean, becomes obsessed with visiting big city and enjoying what it has to offer. In Paris she meets young and charming peddler (played by Gilles Margarits) who begins to shamelessly flirt with her. That causes leads Jean to jealous rage and he bans Juliette from leaving the barge. When she does it anyway, Jean decides to leave Paris without her, leaving her stranded. Only at the port city of Le Havre he realises that he truly loves her and Père Jules helps him to track her back.
With its simple, melodramatic and old-fashioned plot, L’Atalante might give impression of rather odd choice for Vigo, who had earned reputation of enfant terrible of French with his previous film Zero for Conduct, wild and uncompromising embrace of anti-establishment anarchism. Initially it wasn’t Vigo’s choice at all. He very reluctantly agreed the offer of Gaumont, major French film studio which was trying to exploit popularity of river barge ballads, songs that were all the rage in 1930s France and which Vigo actually despised (and even slightly mocked in the film). Despite his initial misgivings, Vigo worked very hard on this film, bringing some of the cast ( Dasté and Lefevbre) and crew (noted cinematographer Boris Kaufman) from Zero for Conduct. The result was film that successfully mixed different styles – “poetic” scenes depicting barge in night fog with quasi-documentary scenes of Parisian river banks and streets. Its script also had very good balance of melodrama, humour and even bits of magic realism. In this way L’Atalante represents one of the examples of Poetic Realism, film movement championed by Vigo’s friend Jacques Prevert, poet and screenwriter who briefly appears in the film in cameo role. Vigo’s film is, despite his talent, a little bit rough on the edges, and this could be explained by budget problems, meddling by Gaumont, unusually harsh winter of 1933/34 that affected location shooting and, most importantly, Vigo’s deteriorating health condition. Vigo was racing against the time, allegedly directing some of the scene from the stretcher and was bedridden when production ended.
What ultimately make his film work was the cast. Dasté was well-matched with Dita Parlo, German actress for whom L’Atalante would represent pinnacle of her relatively short career. She very successfully played a woman torn between obvious love of her husband, excitements and temptations offered by big cities and realisation that married life is something quite different from girlish fantasies. However, both Dasté and Parlo are overshadowed by Michel Simon, Swiss actor whose larger-than-life presence benefited many French films of the period. Simon, known for his non-conformist bohemian lifestyle found something of a kindred spirit in anarchist Vigo and, as a result, delivered one of the most effective and memorable performances of his career. Père Jules is truly memorable character – realistic because he is sailor who travelled the world only to end up as an old man on river barge, frightening when he initially greets Juliette with hostility and hints of sexual aggression, pathetic when he succumbs to drinks, eccentric because of his strange tattoos and, finally, voice of reason.
Despite Simon’s grand performance, executives at Gaumont weren’t happy with the finished product. L’Atalante, initially made with 89 minutes of running time, was shortened to 65 minutes. Vigo was at the time too ill for fight for his artistic vision. This version was sent to theatres and was greeted with mediocre reviews, with L’Atalante all but sinking into oblivion. In 1940, during WW2 German occupation, version closer to Vigo’s intentions appeared and after the war it was championed by influential American critics James Agee, Italian director Luigi Comencini and French film historian George Sadoul. But the biggest impression was left on young François Truffaut who would use L’Atalanta as inspiration for his works associated with French New Wave. Truffaut and many other members of the movement would hail Vigo as their martyr and patron saint and one of the most prestigious cinema awards in France is named after him. L’Atalante was restored twice, with latest version, made by Vigo’s daughter Luce and Bernhard Eisenschitz, dating from 2001.
L’Atalante is well-made film that could be enjoyed by even by audience unaware of its technical challenges, but ultimately, cinephiles are more likely to appreciate it for its importance in development of cinema than its quality.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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