Review on La Jetee

Review on La Jetee 1962

La Jetee

This short film that runs for about 28 minutes is made up of still images as explained in a review on Film 4. 'The film takes the form of a photo-roman - a story told, apart from a few enigmatic seconds of moving pictures, in still photographs. These images sometimes linger for a few seconds, at other times flash briefly on screen, and still others appear in a pulsing form, fading in and out of vision.' (Film4, 1962) It is almost like looking through a collection of photographs much like a war veteran's real life experience. Some of the scenes look like motion pictures instead of still images, as the soundtrack added to the dark images makes you think the people are actually talking when they are not. A review on Time Out London mentions this. 'Marker uses monochrome images recognisably from the past, such as the ruins of Europe after WWII, and with a few small props and effects, subtly suggests a future environment. The soundtrack's texture is similarly sparse, and the fluid montage leads the viewer into the sensation of watching moving images.' (Time Out London, 2011)  

 Time Travel Experiments

The soundtrack plays an important role in this film, it adds a sense of pain and horror to the images of war as well as give that eerie feel to it throughout the film. This is explained in a review on TV Guide. 'Described as a "photo-roman" about "a man marked by an image from his childhood," it manages to tell a gripping, haunting story and create an ominous and powerful atmosphere simply through the masterly manipulation of frozen images and a subtle soundtrack made up of heartbeats, whispers, jet engines and other sound effects, as well as Trevor Duncan's eerie music score.' (TV Guide, 1963)    

 The Pier

List of Illustrations

  

Figure 1. Marker, Chris (1962) La Jetee. [Film Poster] At: http://movieshlep.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/la-jetee-1962/ (Accessed on: 07.02.11)

Figure 2. Marker, Chris (1962) Time Travel Experiments. [Screen Cap] At: http://allfordeadtime.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/aesthetics-of-time-travel/ (Accessed on: 07.02.11)

Figure 3. Marker, Chris (1962) The Pier. [Screen Cap] At: http://erinjess.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/la-jetee-what-is-time/ (Accessed on: 07.02.11)

Bibliography

Film4 (1962) La Jetee. http://www.film4.com/reviews/1962/la-jet-amp-233-e (Accessed on: 07.02.11)

Time Out London (2011) La Jetee (1962). http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/77181/la_jetee.html (Accessed on: 07.02.11)

TV Guide (1963) La Jetee. http://movies.tvguide.com/la-jetee/review/132177 (Accessed on: 07.02.11)