Capricious small-town girl Juliette and barge captain Jean marry after a whirlwind courtship, and she comes to live aboard his boat, L'Atalante. As they make their way down the Seine, Jean grows weary of Juliette's flirtations with his all-male crew, and Juliette longs to escape the monotony of the boat and experience the excitement of a big city. When she steals away to Paris by herself, her husband begins to think their marriage was a mistake.
11 Dec L’Atalante (1934)
Adam in His Prime
What a legacy!
There’s a very fine recent film named “Young Adam.” Its extremely well done and it matters. Few people saw it I think. Its very much like this, indeed has some of the very shots. Its set on a barge and concerns the emotional wondering of a couple and their first mate. But it is unlike this in that it not only has a story, that story is rich. The narrative is deep and you grab onto it and cannot let go. There is a mystery: the floating flowers in this film are translated to the floating body of a near-perfect woman in “Adam.”
If you see that first, you’ll be doubly struck by this. Its similarly perfect. But there is no story whatever. People just are. Instead of relying on narrative, it relies on the absence of narrative to communicate that this is not a fabrication but real life. It isn’t of course, but it seems more real, more discovered because there is no show, no apparent reason for us to intrude.
A new bride joins her husband on board. He’s controlling and easily made jealous. Also on board is a crufty old character and his teen son. The son doesn’t matter. But the old guy is quite a character, possessing a simple wisdom, many memories and tokens of adventures, and a sort of wild abandon that has him perform crazily when given a chance. He seems to do all the work. Oh, he’s ugly.
We keep waiting for there to be a relationship between the two, and one does develop, but as far from sexual as possible. Instead, what happens is that she has some adventures herself. The amazing thing is that we do not know what they are. An ordinary film would give us details and then punishment, or the French equivalent. But here, essentially nothing.
Excepting the screwy last few seconds, I believe this to be so perfect, I am putting it down as my entry of the best film of 1934. The phrasing of the camera movement, that’s what to look for.
Posted in 2007
Ted’s Evaluation — 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.
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