Film Review - La Jetée

Le Jetée, made in 1962 by Chris Marker, is a very matter-of-fact film about time travel, told through picture instead of animation. Although it may not look like much to a modern audience, the film has been a large influence in movie culture, inspiring many other films after it, like Back to The Future or Star Trek.

Fig. 1

Like a moving storyboard, Marker only uses the essential pictures to tell his story. The lack of movement can be disconcerting at first, but as the film progresses it is obvious that the photographs are just a unique, creative way of telling a remarkable story. Unlocking the "poetic possibilities" (Scott, 2012) of time travel was essential to the short film's success, and gave it the influence it still has on other film makers today.

Fig. 2

The sound is La Jetée is utilised well to enhance the pictures on the screen. "The film uses sound and visuals together to explore the concept of movement" (Ignoramus, 2018). Despite not having any movement in the movie (apart from in one short scene), La Jetée doesn't come across as being unfinished, or having anything missing. The audience begins to get used to the new format, and can almost fill in the gaps themselves. The sound helps incredibly with this. When in an underground scene where the main character is being used as a guinea pig for time travel, the harsh whispers in the background makes the picture seem even more alive, almost as if you were standing in the scene yourself.

Not only are the photographs and sound remarkable in the film, but the story is also inspiring, and creates "meaning and an emotional connection" (Buchman, 2015) to the main character. The twist at the end is poignant to the audience, and leaves them thoughtful, perhaps sad for the time traveller. La Jetée is a well thought out and delicate film that uses unconventional methods to make a story come to life.

Fig. 3

Bibliography

Buchman, M (2015). "Classic Films: La Jetée" in Nerdist [online]. Available at: https://nerdist.com/classic-films-la-jetee/

Ignoramus, L (2018). "Chris Marker’s La Jetée Analysis: Mortality and the Illusion of Time" [online]. Available at: http://filmslie.com/chris-marker-la-jetee-analysis-temporality/

Scott, A (2012). "What ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Terminator’ Owe to ‘La Jetée’" in The New York Times [online]. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/magazine/la-jetee.html

Illustration List

Fig. 1 - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f7/La_Jetee_Poster.jpg/220px-La_Jetee_Poster.jpg

Fig. 2 - https://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/lajetee6_090515.jpg

Fig. 3 - https://wolfmanscultfilmclub.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/la-jetc3a9e-1962-man-and-woman-the-jetty-airport.jpg?w=1100