Short Take: La Jetée

Writer-director Chris Marker's La Jetée is one of the finest science-fiction films ever made. In a post-apocalyptic Paris, scientists look to the possibilities of time travel to save the human race. After some failed experiments with various prisoners, they settle on one (Davos Hanich), who has a brief, obsessive memory of a woman (Hélène Chatelain) he saw on an airport observation deck as a child. On his trips to the past, he meets the woman, and the two fall in love. His people eventually send him to the future, where he is given their salvation. After he returns, he is offered the choice of permanent return to the past or future. He chooses the past, only to learn that his present will follow with tragedy wherever he goes. The irony is that the tragedy is one he always knew, but never recognized until it was too late. One can never escape the present by losing oneself in other times. This allegorical fable of time, memory, and nostalgic escapism is presented with an extraordinary artfulness. The film, 28 minutes long, is told as a series of still photographs. Spectacle is kept to a minimum. The starkly evocative photos set the stage, and their expressive beauty carries the story along. The stills are a fine metaphor for memory; the flow of experience becomes frozen in the peak moments of happiness, pain, and drama. Marker departs from the photos only once: the few seconds when the woman awakens with her eyes full of love. It's an exquisitely poetic use of the motion-picture form. Jean Ravel provided the beautifully paced editing. The music is by Trevor Duncan, with the choral music directed by Piotr V. Spassky. The story was the inspiration for the 1995 film 12 Monkeys, directed by Terry Gilliam.