A curiosity and a film far ahead of its time: L'Atalante

Jean Vigo's L'Atalante (1934) is on many lists of classic movies, and it's far ahead of its time in some ways, just emerging from the tradition of silent movies but using the best of that genre to tell a simple story largely through images and editing - there is some dialog of course but the story is told visually, not through spoken language - so it's a long way from Vigo to, say, Eric Rohmer. In some ways, the film does show its age, as the story is rather slow-moving and takes a long time to develop its conflicting forces, certainly by today's standards. Simple, elegant story line, however: Movie begins with a post-wedding processional - at first we don't know where they're heading - and, in parallel sequences, an old salt and a young lad preparing a canal barge - the L'Atalante of the title - for a launching; we gradually realize that they are preparing to meet the bride and groom - the groom is the captain of this small barge. The townspeople note that the bride has always wanted to leave the little town and they expect never to see her again - one of the first of many great scenes in the movie is the townspeople standing in complete silence and stasis as the barge pulls away. The predictable consequences ensue: the bride wants to see the big city (Paris), but husband is tied to his work tending the barge; she flirts quite brazenly with the old sailor, and with others on shore, leading to a fit of jealous rage, quite understandable. Eventually, she leaves the barge to look around Paris on her own; husband becomes deeply melancholic, nearly suicidal - but at last the reunite when the barge reaches the ocean port of Le Havre - though the ending is not quite romantic and we realize they are very different people with a tempestuous relationship unlikely to endure. The beauty of the film consists of a number of terrific scenes, almost a documentary look at life along the canal (and to a lesser extent in Paris near the canal) in the 1930s, so different and mysterious - material that Puccini used successfully in a one-act opera, BTW. Also some very powerful interior scenes, especially her flirting with the old sailor, discovered by husband, leading to husbands destructive fit, smashing dishes and turning over a table. The dance-hall scene in Paris is also great, and the ghostly scenes in the night-time fog. Some of the editing sequences are terrific, too - the film is far more sexual and erotic than most others of the era, in particular the scene when the man and woman are apart and each fantasizing about the other. All told, L'Atalante is quite dated, a bit of a curiosity, but certainly worth watching at least once and appreciating how much Vigo was able to accomplish within a very limited scope (a film w/ essentially 4 actors and almost all shot on or near the canals of northern France).