L'Atalante

BFI Film Classics

by Marina Warner

Jean, the owner of the barge "L'Atalante," marries Juliette. Though the erotic bond between the couple is strong, relations prove difficult. Eventually Juliette runs away. Jean searches for her, they are reunited. From this simple, almost banal story Jean Vigo fashioned what Marina Warner calls "one of the most tender and convincing love stories on film."
L'Atalante was the last film in Vigo's tragically short career; he died of tuberculosis in 1934 soon after its completion. Though indifferently received at first, in the past sixty years L'Atalante has achieved almost legendary status. The release of the restored version in 1990 was a triumph. In this book, a model of how to write about cinema, Marina Warner shows that the greatness of the film is not in the story but in the manner of its telling. Vigo's extraordinary style--as fresh, original and beautiful today as in 1934--owes something to surrealism, but is uniquely his.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 1993

About the author

Marina Sarah Warner is a British novelist, short story writer, historian and mythographer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth.

She is a professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre at the University of Essex, and gave the Reith Lectures on the BBC in 1994 on the theme of 'Managing Monsters: Six Myths of Our Time.'

Reviews

[Tonymess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such insights & analysis without the wankery you occasionally find when reading film criticism. Warner shows her deep love for a wonderful film & enlightens any viewer with her straightforward but insightful book.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The modern world, with all its technological wizardry, is often a world of deep contradiction; the cleverer we become, the more we use that development in a race to the intellectual dustbin – glorifying, disseminating and frankly revelling in stupidity and idiocy.

Thankfully there is a balance, and part of that is the way that we can bring films from the early 20th century back to life – cleaning up, restoring and editing mangled art back to its glory; and so it is with L’Atalante. Made in 1934 and restored in 1990, we now have a version of the film closer to the directors vision than the, frankly horrifying, 65 minute edit enforced by the distributors of the day, as Jean Vigo saw out his tragically final days. Accepted, this doesn’t mean that the film is now a popular ‘hit’, but it does mean that those who seek out and appreciate this kind of work, are able to enjoy it in a way that contemporaries in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s never could. Lucky us.

Lucky, because L’Atalante really is one of the greatest films ever committed to celluloid – it is a true masterpiece that will stay with the viewer forever, and Marina Warner is no exception. Anyone who has read my reviews will know how much I love this series of books, and this is once again an example of someone with a true a passion for the subject, writing in an engaged, intellectual and authoritative manner. Warner doesn’t just understand Vigo’s film, his background and history, his oeuvre, she loves it, and that simply bounces off the pages. Credit also to the designer, who's choice of stills / photographs truly accentuates this book.

Watch L’Atalante, read this book, and then watch it again.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent background and analysis of Vigo’s gorgeous urban fairy tale by prominent mythologist