Review of L'Atalante (1934) by Ryan D — 16 Apr 2009

A rating-system is really not this film worthy. This is one of the best films of the entire history of cinema and it is so for many reason.

The story is real simple but noneless interesting from start to finish: It is about love between two newlyweds - a young sailor and his newlywed, Jean & Juliette, who hardly seem to know each other at all. She comes from a small town and their honeymoon takes place on his ship on its way from Le Havre to Paris. On the ship the groom has two men working for him. One of them is Le père Jules - a sailor by blood and heart and one of the warmest, funniest, grittiest and most honest characters ever seen portraied on film. He is a revolutionary and his way of life stirs up a desire in Juliette who is new to it all.

"L'atalante" simply works on all levels. Dito Parlo and Jean Daste are both charming and wonderful as the newlyweds and as Le père Jules, Michel Simon is nothing but spectacular! He seems not be acting at all - undescribeable! There seems to be some kind of sync between fiction and reality here, between the actor Simon and the character Jules. A-MA-ZING!And that goes for the photography as well - it is fragments of real life filmed on great locations mostly in and on the outskirts of Paris. Boris Kaufman is the director photographer and you clearly sense his personal tocuh on the work - a distinct touch that twenty years later deservely would give him an Academy Award for his work on "On The Waterfront".

But mostly this is the work of Jean Vigo, the French anarchistic director that sadly only lived to direct two features and two short films. This is the beginning of poetic realism in cinema and it has never been this convincing since. Without Vigo there wouldn't have been any Renoir or Carné or any "Les Quatre Cents Coups" for that matter. To cut the bullshit: This is what cinema is supposed to be all about and it is for EVERYBODY! You won't find many funnier movie moments than you do in the presence of Le père Jules, I can promise you that much. This is a masterpiece!