Jean Vigo
By August 31, 2011
Let there be no trouble, no pranks . . . Do you realize the enormity of our moral responsibility? —Headmaster in Zéro de conduite There is nothing in the history of movies that mirrors or . . . Read more »
- France
- 1934
- 89 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- French
SYNOPSIS: In Jean Vigo’s hands, an unassuming tale of conjugal love becomes an achingly romantic reverie of desire and hope. Jean (Jean Dasté), a barge captain, marries Juliette (Dita Parlo), an innocent country girl, and the two climb aboard Jean’s boat, the L’Atalante—otherwise populated by an earthy first mate (Michel Simon) and a multitude of mangy cats—and embark on their new life together. Both a surprisingly erotic idyll and a clear-eyed meditation on love, L’Atalante, Vigo’s only feature-length work, is a film like no other.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Jean | Jean Dasté |
| Juliette | Dita Parlo |
| Père Jules | Michel Simon |
| Kid | Louis Lefebvre |
| Showman | Gilles Margaritis |
| Juliette’s mother | Fanny Clar |
| Raspoutine | Raphaël Diligent |
| Manager of the Waterways Company | Maurice Gilles |
Credits
| Director | Jean Vigo |
| Screenplay | Jean Vigo and Albert Riéra |
| Music | Maurice Jaubert |
| Photography | Boris Kaufman, Louis Berger and Jean-Paul Alphen |
| Editing | Louis Chavance |
| A production by | Jacques Louis-Nounez |
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
L’Atalante: Canal Music
By August 31, 2011
A man and a woman are married in a small town. The wedding procession follows them to a canal barge, of which he is the master. His crew, an old salt and a young boy, await them there. The couple . . . Read more »
Videos
Press Notes
Press Notes: Best of 2011
January 13, 2012
It’s the time of year when the list makers do their heavy lifting, looking back over the preceding twelve months and deciding what was best and brightest. We’re happy to report that some of our 2011 . . . Read more »
Press Notes: The Complete Jean Vigo
September 12, 2011
“Minute for minute, there is almost certainly no more influential figure in all of cinema than Jean Vigo,” contends Dennis Lim in his Los Angeles Times review of Criterion’s The Complete Jean Vigo . . . Read more »
