L'Atalante, Jean Vigo, France, 1934, 89' DCP 4K, OV FR, Sub ES
Remastered 4K DCP. International revival at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Classics.
L’Atalante is the first and only full-length feature film by Jean Vigo, who died shortly after finishing up its filming (at the age of 29), without seeing his work succeed and become a masterpiece of French cinema 20 years later.
The film tells the story of the love between Jean and Juliette. A story that finds its raison d'être in the severe and restrictive world of the working class in Paris during the 1920s, with all its ambiguities and paradoxes. The film features Jean, an innocent and conservative young man with few opportunities, Juliette, a young and naive woman who is dazzled by adventure and wants to get to know Paris, the City of Lights, and Uncle Jules, a sailor with dubious morals who is subversive and dim-witted. The three, alongside a young cabin boy, embark on the newlyweds' honeymoon aboard the barge L’Atalante.
This copy was restored in 4K in 2017 by Gaumont, Cinémathèque Française, and The Film Foundation (founded by Martin Scorsese), with support from CNC - Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée. The restoration work was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata and in the laboratories of L'Image Retrouvée based on original copies of first-generation nitrate source kept by BFI, Cineteca Italiana, and Cinémathèque Française. The international revival of this restored version of L'Atlante by Jean Vigo took place at Cannes Classics in 2017.
L’Atalante is the first and only full-length feature film by Jean Vigo, who died shortly after finishing up its filming (at the age of 29), without seeing his work succeed and become a masterpiece of French cinema 20 years later.