La Jetee

La Jete
Introduction
A short film by Chris Marker, La Jete (The Pier, 1962) is a uniquely stylized film, which utilizes photo-montage as a technique to convey a complex story, compressing the major scenes into a series of summative imagery. The film is regarded as an extraordinarily influential science-fiction masterpiece, described as a landmark of science-fiction filmmaking (Ankeny, s.d). Along with directing La Jete, and other films of various genre, Chris Marker is credited with inventing a new genre of film, Essay film, which is a combination of documentary and personal reflection films through a cinematic perspective, most obvious in his films Cuba Si! (1961) and Le Mystre Koumiko (The Koumiko Mystery, 1965). Although the essay film Cuba Si! Was created in 1961, it was banned until 1963 by the French government due to the antiAmerican climax of the film, which featured footage of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, which occurred in April 1961. The film also includes a pair of interviews with Cuban prime minister of the time, Fidel Castro. Even though the film was banned until 1963, Marker decided to release the text and still images before 1963, but the combination of audio, imagery and text was not properly communicated until the ban was lifted. Another film by Chris Marker of the same genre is Le Mystre Koumiko (The Figure 1. La Jete. (1962). Koumiko Mystery) which was created in 1965, set during the wake of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, in which there are many conversations with an attractive Koumiko Muraoka, who is a French-speaking Tokyo citizen. Due to the state of Tokyo at the time, and through Koumiko, Marker was able to highlight the loss of identity that occurs with globalism. The film, La Jete, is set in an era that has been ravaged by World War III, resulting in a nuclear holocaust, and a kingdom of rats, (La Jete, 1962) watched over by the victors. In an attempt to preserve the future, a group of underground scientists experiment on the minds of men, in an attempt to send them through time to find a way to save the world, but most fail. That is until a single unnamed man, with a powerful enough memory of an event

La Jetee in his past, becomes the scientists subject. Though the man succeeds with his mission, he is offered a life in the future, but refuses, wishing for a life with his love, a beautiful woman, in the past. It is in this final journey to the past that it is revealed to the audience, that the person the man saw die as a young boy is in fact himself, and that he has witnessed his ultimate demise.

Analysis
There is an extensive variety of cinematic conventions utilized to produce the desired effects of the piece, ranging from the emotional connection between the characters and the audience, created by the storyline, to the representation of the post-apocalyptic world, portrayed through the black and white imagery. Alongside the connective prowess of the imagery and storyline, there are great philosophical connotations surrounding the ideological perspectives of time, represented in the climax of the film. Although the film creates an unrivalled effect, through the use of photo-montage, it still utilizes many of the conventions used in cinema to create a haunting vision of the future (Walters, s.d). While mainly comprising of photographs, played as a montage, the film clearly depicts an understanding of cinematography, with varying shot types and camera angles, alongside several scenes where similar frames are placed together in rapid succession to Figure 2. La Jete. (1962). create the illusion of movement, which implies that the basic structures utilized in cinema are stripped bare (Cannon, 1997) throughout the film. Even though several sections of the films scenes produce an optical illusion suggesting movement, the majority of the film is represented through the connections of each frame, either through the narration, by Jean Ngroni, or the imagery of the individual photographic frames, some of which are visibly connected, while other connections are merely suggested, mostly represented through the camera angles and shot types. Although the majority of the film is constructed using still imagery, there is a single scene of motion, which almost feels misplaced in an entirely motionless film. The unusual technique used to create the film, using a photo-montage of still images, resulting in an extraordinarily unique film, is different to all its predecessors in its imagery and style. Created in 1962, during the height of the Cold War and seventeen years after World War II, there is a clear influence from the images of war torn cities of World War II and the medias methods of publicizing, such as show reels and radio broadcasts, the events

La Jetee that occurred during the war. The black and white photographs enhance the connotations of war as the immediate impression is of wartime photojournalism (Cannon, 1997), with grainy imperfect saturation. This appearance supports the implications of a world destroyed by conflict, as it appears to suggest that the technological advancements of the era have also been destroyed during the catastrophic war that engulfed the world, along with the major cities. As well as the use of imagery, another aspect of the film creates a high sense of realism throughout, allowing the audience to become emotionally attached to the characters of the story through the events that unfold and their experiences together. While there is an essence of time travel, the focus of the film is the relationship between the two main characters, which is projected in surprising detail for such a short piece (Cannon, 1997). Regardless to the obvious division between the pair of characters, time, there is a clear romance that attracts the audience to the story of their relationship, which is ultimately doomed to failure, but the connection is produced due to the fact that the woman in the relationship is a memory from the mans childhood, which could be described as an utopian dream before the horrors of war annihilated the peaceful atmosphere. This utopian dream connotation that occurs from the time travelling raises several argumentative issues surrounding the ideologies of time and the perspective issues Figure 3. La Jete. (1962). surrounding it. The film introduces many aspects of time travel that have been expanded in more recent films, such paradoxes, and the effects of such events. It also utilizes the idea of finding salvation from more advanced civilizations and being from the future, but the climactic scene of the film, where the lead character chooses to live in the past with the woman he loves, greatly portrays the idea that people are supposed to exist live and die in the present (Walters, s.d) and that we are not meant to live in dreams (Walters, s.d), which are banished from existence, only to belong in our thoughts and memories. This revelation, alongside the layout of the film, sequences of fleeting imagery, seemingly suggests that time is utterly subjective, implying that a person can live an entire lifetime in a few short moments (Walters, s.d), but also casting a new outlook on modern life, implying that people will merely live an existence, without truly living.

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Conclusion
Created in a post-war era, yet with the possibility of a global nuclear holocaust, the film was greatly influenced by the world around it, but, intriguingly, the issues that arise during the film are still applicable in modern society, transformed from the unease surrounding the possibility of a destructive nuclear war to a more modern understanding of the effect of our actions on the environment and life for others (Samuel, 2012). This ability to apply the same principles in a modern era seems to imply a clear understanding of humanity. Together with the application of an understanding of humanity, the film has extensively influenced modern cinema, with many films emulating the themes and climactic twist ending, while the style is utterly unique to the film. One particular theme of the film that has often been emulated in more recent films is the use of time travel in science-fiction genres, but other films, such as Dj vu (2006) and The Time Travellers Wife (2009), also combine the romance theme of La Jete. As well as other science-fiction films, the time travel and paradoxical themes that occur in La Jete are also apparent in television programmes, such as The Simpsons (1989-Present) and Primeval (2007Present). Although there are many films that feature the same themes as La Jete, one specific film, Twelve Monkeys (1995), was greatly influenced by it. Directed by Terry Gilliam, Twelve Monkeys was released in 1995 and clearly demonstrates influences from La Jete. The film depicts a Figure 4. La Jete. (1962). futuristic world that has been devastated by an unknown fatal virus, which has reduced the worlds population to just 1% by 2035 since it first appeared, forcing the survivors to seek refuge underground, but having discovered the ability to travel in time, a convict named James Cole (Bruce Willis) volunteers to be sent back in time, to 1996, to investigate the outbreak of the epidemic. Unlike La Jete, the time travel aspect of the film results the character being transported too far into the past, to 1990, and admitted to a mental institute, where he meets Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), who soon becomes a love interest after Cole kidnaps her and convinces her the he is from the future, and the insane son of a famous scientist and virus expert, Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). With an obvious influence from La Jete, the film contains several scenes that are practically identical, such as a young boy witnessing a murder that turns out to be his own death and the character being allowed to choose to live with the woman in his past, which is revealed to be the reason for his demise.

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Illustration List
Figure. 1. La Jete. (1962). [Poster] At: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/La_Jetee_Poster.jpg (Accessed on 16/01/2013). Figure. 2. La Jete. (1962). From: La Jete, Argos Films. Directed by: Chris Marker. [Film Still] France: Argos Films. At: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews31/a%20la%20jetee%20sand%20soliel/a%2 0le%20jeteePDVD_011.jpg (Accessed on 16/01/2013). Figure. 3. La Jete. (1962). From: La Jete, Argos Films. Directed by: Chris Marker. [Film Still] France: Argos Films. At: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QZr5Spb9F8/UDoF9VSJ6AI/AAAAAAAAJgw/N6FMPGpjxKE/s1600/chrismarker-lajetee.jpg (Accessed on 16/01/2013). Figure. 4. La Jete. (1962). From: La Jete, Argos Films. Directed by: Chris Marker. [Film Still] France: Argos Films. At: http://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/features/wpcontent/uploads/2010/12/la-jetee-orly.jpg (Accessed on 16/01/2013).

Bibliography
Ankeny, Jason. (s.d). La Jete (The Pier) (1962). At: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la_jetee/ (Accessed on 06/01/2013). La Jete. (1962). Directed by Chris Marker. [Film] France. Argos Films. Walters, Samuel. (s.d). La Jete Film Review. At: http://dauntlessmedia.net/film/la-jeteereview.html (Accessed on 06/01/2013). Cannon, Damian. (1997). La Jete (1962). At: http://www.film.unet.com/Movies/Reviews/Jetee.html (Accessed on 06/01/2013). Samuel, Patrick. (2012). La Jete. At: http://staticmass.net/classic/la-jetee-1962-review/ (Accessed on 06/01/2013).