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L'Atalante, 1934
Jean (Jean Daste) marries Juliette (Dita Parlo) and then brings her to live on his canal boat with two of his workers, including the eccentric Jules (Michael Simon). But the figurative honeymoon is soon over as Juliette feels penned in and Jean can't control his jealousy, leading to a catastrophic blow-up when the canal boat temporarily docks in Paris.
This was the last film made by Jean Vigo before he died, and his only feature film. It really speaks to a strong visual talent.
The best thing about the film is the way that it exists at once in a grubby sort of reality and in a borderline-dream reality. There are some lovely strange or surreal touches, like a sequence where Jean, having jumped into the river, is suddenly taken with a vision of Juliette floating in the water in her wedding dress. Later, the two lovers (in different beds) awaken covered by the same shadow pattern, each physically longing for the other. Through the whole film the presence of dozens of cats who overrun the boat add a sense of whimsy, including a sequence where they surround a phonograph as it plays music.
From a story point of view, the film shows a very realistic dynamic whereby two people don't really bring out the best in each other. The performances are very good, to be sure. Especially Michael Simon as the odd ship hand.
One of the challenges I had with this film was that I found it hard to root for anyone in it, and especially hard to root for the relationship between Jean and Juliette. Jean is controlling and abusive. And not in some nuanced, "that was then" way. When he doesn't like how Juliette behaves, he hits her. When he doesn't like someone flirting with her, he drags her back to the boat and orders her to stay there while HE gets to go out and enjoy the Paris night life. When she goes out anyway, he pulls up the anchor and abandons her with no resources in Paris. Jean, to put it mildly, is a grade A jerk, and we see little of his "nice side" to balance out all the crappy stuff he does to Juliette. Juliette is better than Jean, but she also, you know, throws around racial slurs. It's hard to tell if we are meant to find Juliette to be a flirt or what. She enjoys getting attention from Jules and a peddler who compliments her, but who wouldn't want a little attention after being locked away on a boat with a husband who spends most of his time berating her?
Even Jules, who at first seems like a harmless eccentric was a bit over the edge for me. If you'd like me to pinpoint the moment he crossed the line, well, I'd say it was around the time that
. And while there isn't as much animal mishandling as I anticipated given the number of cats, there's still quite a bit of rough handling or throwing them around in dangerous ways.
Despite feeling like a lot of the characters were the worst, I still really enjoyed this film. Jean and Juliette are clearly that couple who has great sex and is also terrible to each other for the entire duration of their relationship. I'm glad I don't have to share a canal boat with them, to put it mildly. Overall, this was a good watch. It was an engaging story with a real visual flair.
L'Atalante, 1934
Jean (Jean Daste) marries Juliette (Dita Parlo) and then brings her to live on his canal boat with two of his workers, including the eccentric Jules (Michael Simon). But the figurative honeymoon is soon over as Juliette feels penned in and Jean can't control his jealousy, leading to a catastrophic blow-up when the canal boat temporarily docks in Paris.
This was the last film made by Jean Vigo before he died, and his only feature film. It really speaks to a strong visual talent.
The best thing about the film is the way that it exists at once in a grubby sort of reality and in a borderline-dream reality. There are some lovely strange or surreal touches, like a sequence where Jean, having jumped into the river, is suddenly taken with a vision of Juliette floating in the water in her wedding dress. Later, the two lovers (in different beds) awaken covered by the same shadow pattern, each physically longing for the other. Through the whole film the presence of dozens of cats who overrun the boat add a sense of whimsy, including a sequence where they surround a phonograph as it plays music.
From a story point of view, the film shows a very realistic dynamic whereby two people don't really bring out the best in each other. The performances are very good, to be sure. Especially Michael Simon as the odd ship hand.
One of the challenges I had with this film was that I found it hard to root for anyone in it, and especially hard to root for the relationship between Jean and Juliette. Jean is controlling and abusive. And not in some nuanced, "that was then" way. When he doesn't like how Juliette behaves, he hits her. When he doesn't like someone flirting with her, he drags her back to the boat and orders her to stay there while HE gets to go out and enjoy the Paris night life. When she goes out anyway, he pulls up the anchor and abandons her with no resources in Paris. Jean, to put it mildly, is a grade A jerk, and we see little of his "nice side" to balance out all the crappy stuff he does to Juliette. Juliette is better than Jean, but she also, you know, throws around racial slurs. It's hard to tell if we are meant to find Juliette to be a flirt or what. She enjoys getting attention from Jules and a peddler who compliments her, but who wouldn't want a little attention after being locked away on a boat with a husband who spends most of his time berating her?
Even Jules, who at first seems like a harmless eccentric was a bit over the edge for me. If you'd like me to pinpoint the moment he crossed the line, well, I'd say it was around the time that
WARNING: spoilers below
he revealed that he had kept his former friend (or lover's?) HANDS IN A JAR IN HIS CABINET.
Despite feeling like a lot of the characters were the worst, I still really enjoyed this film. Jean and Juliette are clearly that couple who has great sex and is also terrible to each other for the entire duration of their relationship. I'm glad I don't have to share a canal boat with them, to put it mildly. Overall, this was a good watch. It was an engaging story with a real visual flair.