Le Jette (1961) showing on TCM 9/3
Posted: September 1st, 2007, 11:33 pm
Time is an interesting paradox. One may have more or less of it. It’s infinite, yet we only know it as finite beings. But what if time could be enclosed, captured and used as a vehicle? That’s the premise of Le Jetee.
This French film, made in 1961 is not only unique in concept, but in it’s presentation as well. First of all, Le Jetee (or The Pier in english) is a very short film—only about 27 minutes long. Secondly the film is comprised almost entirely of still images (there is one tiny filmed segment) mixed with an incredible score and unusual sound effects. Director Chris Marker uses these photographs to help us visualize time as moments suspended in air and space. It also helps us identify with the characters and story which is a simple narrative.
Our main character lives in the future after World War III has ravaged the earth. His memory of a woman he saw at the pier (or airport) as a child before the war is something he has held onto all these years. Her smile has haunted him and yet sustained him through all the tumultuous times that have followed. He is a prisoner of war, but in good company as the victors are trapped below ground with him. The earth has become radioactive and no one can live on the surface of the planet.
The only hope is the future. Looking for men with strong memories, his captors feel he is a prime candidate for testing and propose to send him into the past to connect with his memory. If he can move through time to specific places, events, and make contact with people, then he will be able to be propelled into the future to find help and solutions to problems in the present—before the human race becomes extinct.
If the plot sounds familiar, it is. Terry Gilliam remade this film in 1995 as 12 Monkeys, but it lacks the simple beauty and grace of Marker’s original film. Marker was heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo (1958) which also deals with man’s obsession with a woman and his attempt to turn back time and remake her after she has died. There is one scene in the film which is an homage to Vertigo where the man and woman look at the cross section of a tree as a means of defining time.
Le Jetee’s magic comes from it’s ability to conceptualize time and helps us to see it differently than our everyday experiences where it—and we—are in continual motion. This makes it hard for us to view life objectively. We become defined by what we do, not who we are and our relationship to others. It also helps us to see time as a commodity to be used before our own lives are spent.
While the end of the film is heartbreaking, it’s a solemn reminder that the past, present, and future are not isolated, but indeed connected. One cannot live in the past or future and deny the present. Nor can one escape from them. Like a pool of ever widening ripples they touch all parts of our lives and we bear their imprint.
This French film, made in 1961 is not only unique in concept, but in it’s presentation as well. First of all, Le Jetee (or The Pier in english) is a very short film—only about 27 minutes long. Secondly the film is comprised almost entirely of still images (there is one tiny filmed segment) mixed with an incredible score and unusual sound effects. Director Chris Marker uses these photographs to help us visualize time as moments suspended in air and space. It also helps us identify with the characters and story which is a simple narrative.
Our main character lives in the future after World War III has ravaged the earth. His memory of a woman he saw at the pier (or airport) as a child before the war is something he has held onto all these years. Her smile has haunted him and yet sustained him through all the tumultuous times that have followed. He is a prisoner of war, but in good company as the victors are trapped below ground with him. The earth has become radioactive and no one can live on the surface of the planet.
The only hope is the future. Looking for men with strong memories, his captors feel he is a prime candidate for testing and propose to send him into the past to connect with his memory. If he can move through time to specific places, events, and make contact with people, then he will be able to be propelled into the future to find help and solutions to problems in the present—before the human race becomes extinct.
If the plot sounds familiar, it is. Terry Gilliam remade this film in 1995 as 12 Monkeys, but it lacks the simple beauty and grace of Marker’s original film. Marker was heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo (1958) which also deals with man’s obsession with a woman and his attempt to turn back time and remake her after she has died. There is one scene in the film which is an homage to Vertigo where the man and woman look at the cross section of a tree as a means of defining time.
Le Jetee’s magic comes from it’s ability to conceptualize time and helps us to see it differently than our everyday experiences where it—and we—are in continual motion. This makes it hard for us to view life objectively. We become defined by what we do, not who we are and our relationship to others. It also helps us to see time as a commodity to be used before our own lives are spent.
While the end of the film is heartbreaking, it’s a solemn reminder that the past, present, and future are not isolated, but indeed connected. One cannot live in the past or future and deny the present. Nor can one escape from them. Like a pool of ever widening ripples they touch all parts of our lives and we bear their imprint.