Jean Vigo’s L’Atlante : An exploration of human engagements through the cinematic language.
Vigo’s
L’Atlante
: An exploration of human engagements through the cinematic language.
With
the opening credits of the movie L’atlante
music
flows rhythmically on varying tones which with an already given
knowledge about the title of the movie suggests that some adventure
would be opening now. The very first shot has the nose of the barge
carrying ship which has the title L’ATLANTE on it. When I recall my
very first experience with this movie some years back I did not know
who Jean Vigo was and what contributions he had made to the cinematic
world. I saw the whole movie without having any prior knowledge about
the maker and the movie itself apart from the information that it was
a french movie made in the year 1934 by the director Jean Vigo who
later on had died the same year at a tender age of 29.
It
certainly made me think and see the progression of the movie also
through the point of view of the director while he was well aware of
his declining and fragile condition.
Fig.
1 Juliette and Jean standing on the ship L’atlante.
The
music is replaced by the mild tolling sound of Church bells and
images become emotionally charged with the rising of the mist over
the ship in one of those early shots. The story starts with the entry
of the two characters Jules
(played
by the french actor Michel Simon) and Camelot
(played by Gilles Margaritis) who are seemingly busy to arrange the
welcome moment for the newly married couple who are returning from
the church. The sense that what the movie is going to show starts
unfolding only when the characters Juliette
(played
by the german actress Dita Parlo) and Jean
(played by Jean Daste) enter the frame as a married couple and the
mood of the music very subtly changes with their entry in the frame.
This change is also performed in their straight motion towards the
barge from where their journey is going to start.
On
the initial note it may appear as a story that is about a newly
married couple and also about the annoying compromises that they have
to make with the people who are surrounding them with their attitudes
towards life. Both Jean and Juliette do not like cats but even then
they have to comply with the love that Jules has for his cats. It may
seem like a little act of nuisance for them but they have to share
the same space that is a new territory for all of them. All through
the movie a visible tension is shown between Jules and Jean because
of their ever conflicting attitudes and manners towards life. Jean
reflects a strong disliking towards Jules's cats, antiquities that he
had collected from all over the world, his drinking habits and most
annoyingly the presence of his belongings inJean's
private spaces. This disliking is not only shown but also performed
sometimes by Jean. At one moment in the movie when Juliette is very
curiously looking at and interacting with the antiquities and
"Characters" in Jules' room then Jean very angrily starts
breaking these antiquities of his world.
One
thing must be noted here. Would such tension and conflicting
personalities have been possible to be seen if they were not on the
ship but in a completely different space that would not have come
across each other? I think certainly not. What Vigo shows here is
also a possibility and growth of a trajectory in the mutual presence
of a certain people on a certain ground. It can also be questioned
here about the possibility of the whole story itself which in my
opinion is the result of those conflicts among them. And I also feel
that Vigo may have the same approach here towards the inevitability
of the conflicts and crisis in human life.
Fig.
2 Juliette and Jules interacting in Jules’
room
Juliette
is the personality who invisibly minimizes the roughness between them
and helps them evolve into good friends who do not have grudges from
the past liking or disliking towards one another. It is a symbolic
gesture of accepting each other in the space that they have to live
in.
But
for me it is most importantly also the story of the life of a new
member who has just entered the new circle and starts a completely
new life. Juliette
is a village girl who starts her life on L’ATLANTE with Jean,
Jules and
Camelot. It
can also be seen as the other way round where these three are to live
on the ship with a new member. The title of the movie which is also
the name of the barge L’ATLANTE becomes the ground where the
trajectories of their lives will move on as the barge sails in the
river and has a destination to reach.
Among
the few best moments that Juliette cherishes is with Jules in his
antiquities filled room. Her disliking towards Jules seems to be
evaporating as she spends time in his room which is engaged with the
revealing of the antiquities from the distant lands that he had
traveled in his life. A very scary moment unfolds which is not given
the leverage and tonality of that scary feeling through the casual
gesture of his words. He says That’s
all
left
of him. It
certainly is not the point of attraction for her because she just
wants to explore his world and its layers. Can that interaction
between the world of antiquities in his room and Juliette be seen as
a part of the individual journeys where all of them are the
travelers. Yes, for me the expression of amazement and curiosity
encourages Jules to open up his tabooed
world in front of her. Even though she is well aware of the mood of
Jean who certainly does not like Jules and his world and more
specifically the fact that Juliette is taking interest in Jules’
world. Only through the breaking down of those biases can she be able
to understand the world in a much better way.
Fig.
3 Jules very happily showing Juliette the tattoos on his
body
In
his article On
certain characteristics of Photogenie Jean
Epstein talks about Louis Delluec’s Idea upon the art of the Cinema
which he calls Photogenie.
He
says that he would like to describes Photogenic
any
aspect of things, beings, or souls whose moral character is enhanced
by the filmic reproduction and aspect not enhanced by filmic
reproduction is not Photogenic,
plays
no part in the art of cinema. I see what is the major concern here
posed by Epstein. For him it should be the essence of life there in
that visual image that should be able to bring forth the colors that
any life on the screen has to show. Vigo does not go after the
complexities that these images and narrative could have created. On
the contrary he opts for that Photogenic
aspect
of the people and their lives that can enhance their characters by
the filmic reproduction or mode of representation. Juliette seems to
have that aspect very aptly exhibited.
Can
the social condition of the people who are the part of the cinema
also be counted as an stimulus to the enhancement of their photogenic
aspect? It is only my supposition here in the context to understand
the impact that this aspect can have upon the viewers who themselves
are in one way or the other looking back at their central location
and position in that society which they are seeing on the Screen.
If
a person who associates or even dissociates himself or herself from
that real location in the society and starts living in that
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