LA JETÉE Movie Review

The Pier

In 1962, French film poet Chris Marker's 29-minute La Jetée was de rigueur at university film societies and experimental film co-ops, but only with the release of the overwritten, overheated, Terry Gilliam/Bruce Willis remake, 12 Monkeys, did the original begin to receive exposure on a few “independent” cable networks. More than 35 years have passed since the first showings of this tale of a post-apocalyptic time-traveler's journey back to an earlier age, but as the subject of La Jetée is itself the passage of time and the impact of memory, the years have only added a haunting resonance to what may well be the greatest—and scariest—science-fiction film ever made. Comprised of an assemblage of still images (with one very moving exception) and a French-language narration, La Jetée unquestionably owes much to the cinematic time-traveling pioneered by Alain Resnais, yet has its own, highly distinctive atmosphere that recreates with uncanny skill the feeling and circular structure of a deeply private night dream. It's a deeply disturbing, supremely beautiful creation. (Though the original narration is in French, an English-dubbed version was circulated in the 1960s, and, surprisingly, it's superb. More than simply the fact that there's no lip synchronization problem to worry about, the English track version is as beautifully performed and affecting as the original.)

NEXT STOP … Hiroshima Mon Amour, Last Year at Marienbad, The Koumiko Mystery

1962 28m/B FR D: Chris Marker; W: Chris Marker; C: Chris Marker; M: Trevor Duncan. VHS FCT