La Jetee...

I know that we saw this a ridiculously long time ago but for some reason I have never blogged about it so.....

La Jetee -

A 28 minute black and white science fiction film by Chris Marker. I have to say, I'm not really sure what I thought of this film. It was made up almost entirely of still photographs depicting a science experiment to send a prisoner back in time.

It is set in post-nuclear war Paris as scientists attempt to use time travel "to call past and future to the rescue of the present". I found the film to be slightly disturbing as it jumps through time, occasionally returning to the present to show the male prisoner lying lifeless as he is monitored by several scientists. As he jumps through time he repeatedly sees the same woman who he saw as a child at the jetty. He then jumps back to the past again and the audience realises that the event he partially saw as a child was actually his death.

"He ran toward her. And when he recognized the man who'd trailed him from the camp, he realized there was no escape out of time, and that that moment he'd been granted to see as a child, and that had obsessed him forever after... was the moment of his own death."

As I said, I'm not really sure what to think of this film, it was very confusing and depicted a rather complicated story in a fairly short space of time. The lack of speech also adds to the mystery. The only voice that can be heard is that of the narrator, the rest of the film is either silent or you can hear very muffled noises. I had certainly not seen anything like it before. However as interesting as it was I don't think I'll be seeing it again!