Cinema
L'Atalante
Jean Vigo · 1934
Synopsis
Jean, master of the barge L'Atalante, marries Juliette, a country girl, and takes her aboard, where old Jules, an eccentric first mate, a cabin boy and many cats already live. Life as a young bride on the canals proves cramped, and Jean's jealousy awakens. In Paris, a pedlar dangles the city before Juliette; she slips away to discover it, and Jean, furious, sets the barge off again without her.
Context
Shooting began in November 1933 and lasted four winter months, along the canals of the Oise and the Ourcq, under a filmmaker who was already ill and could not finish the editing. After a failed preview, Gaumont shortened the film, inserted a fashionable song into it and renamed it Le Chaland qui passe. Vigo died in October 1934. The intended cut was restored in 1990, and the film was restored again in 2001 and in 2017. Michel Simon plays Père Jules.
Who it is for
A feature film of about an hour and a half; the version matters, since the 1934 one was shortened and reworked.
Prizes and reception
Ranked tenth in the Sight and Sound poll in 1962, sixth in 1992; it is its author's only feature film.
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