Chris Marker's photo-roman - later the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys - sets out, in a series of still photographs punctuated by the odd sign of life, a post-apocalyptic landscape in which experiments are carried out on human survivors to recreate the world through memory; our hero has to travel back to the past, where he begins to work through a relationship with a young woman he remembers, then ahead to the future, in a bid to save what remains of mankind. It's technically dazzling, with exceptional sound editing: its snippets of narration, like the images, fade in and out after the manner of half-recalled phrases. Peel back some of the (very 60s) modish pretension, and within a span of twenty-nine minutes, it appears to tell the story of every love affair in history, including yours and mine.
La Jetée is available on DVD in a twin-pack with Marker's Sans Soleil through Optimum Hone Entertainment.
No comments:
Post a Comment