'La Jetée'- Film Review (2-1)

‘La Jetée’- Cutting Edges (1)’

(Words 1,112)

It’s post-WWIII, and human civilisation has since been forced into two groups … the ‘Victors’ who rule the roost, and the ‘Slaves’, whom are at their mercy. The latter are often forced into scientific experiments, in an inhumane but desperate attempt to reach for new reserves to replenish the futures decreasing food levels, using the only place left available… the past.
This is the story told by French, Sci-Fi genre film; ‘La Jetée’, an independent production, directed by Chris Marker in 1962… delving into some ideas around time, change, and memory.

What are these theories though, how are they shown with use of cinematography?
Well, firstly the most prominent choice of cinematography would be the static use of images, and the way in which they used as “…a framing of the most obscure zones of memory’s fragility and unpredictability; and a montage that replicates gaps in recollection."
Jean-Louise Schefer, (Passages de l'image, 1991) also mentions how "the image itself constitutes an unusual organisation of story-line: Marker invents a type of narration that literature cannot often produce. Literature here appears only in the voice of the narrator-commentator: it borrows its script from the narrative mode of a Kafka.”
There's a solid theme around being 'trapped', both in relation to conflict and in time itself.
Both the concept of being stuck, and the arrangement of images helps show this temporality we as humans have, towards time- in relation to memory and consciousness.

It was observed also by fans ('Filmslie', 2017), that the branching nature of consciousness, could in fact takes routes from Heidegger's theory of time:

"...It is Heidegger that probably best summarises the confusion of temporality, the perpetually elusive present moment, and the shared hallucination of time".
"Temporality temporalizes as a future which makes present in the process of having been." (Heidegger, 'Being and Time' 1927).

How are these theories shown visually?
Well, in addition to the sequential, static use of imagery- something that Barthes in his 'Camera Lucida', (1980) claims “that a photograph carries with itself a label “this-has-been,” signifying that whatever the photograph depicts happened in the past.”-, we also have references to taxidermied animals. Static and ‘ageless’ and observed by ‘The Criterion Collection', (2012), as “life immobile and dead.”, like “the two main characters who appear just as paralysed in the still shots.”

Fig. 1
The birds in La Jetée are paralysed and lifeless. “The photograph suggests that it is already dead,” Roland Barthes wrote.

Fig. 2

“The lack of movement signifies their mortality. Although the characters perceive themselves as alive, seen through the photographic lens, their death has already happened or is just a matter of time.”.
After all, the plot itself features a man who, in seeing his own death as a child, and lives his entire life to an inevitable death. In seeking freedom he quickly finds out that he was doomed into that predetermined death from the very beginning. 

Fig. 3

Incidentally all these things come back to the idea that in searching for a freedom, beyond the underground prison of post-apocalyptic France… in actuality this is a goal that cannot be achieved, as they’re not merely trapped beneath, but also trapped in a time after conflict. Peace can no longer be achieved, and- in the context of the film, which can be considered almost an experiment in narrative and consciousness- we are mortality “trapped in a coil time”. 

This choice of plot, relates to Martin Heidegger's book of "Being and Time", in which he refers to beings as "beings-towards-death". As explained by 'Filmslie.com', (2017), "For him existence is inevitably bound with death to the point where “towards-death” becomes the defining characteristic of a being. La Jetée depicts the inevitability of death in a similar way.", as shown by the planned A-->B-->A narrative.  

La Jetée's view of memory also appears very individualised to the man whom we follow over the course of the story. We are limited in looking where he looks. The frame itself provides a limitation, where the author (Chris Marker) picks and chooses exactly what we, as the audience, can see.
Colour strips away any diversity we may have ourselves- only tonal values allow some freedom in what we're viewing.

Fig. 4

In terms of this, this also links in with themes around conflict.

Specifically how conflict relates to memory.

The film is interesting in that it is almost a remembrance of the worst moments of hopeless war (in WW1); i.e. the lack of empathy and the inevitability of human nature, in which we are trapped to… but also holds the prospect of a story that can transcend time in some ways, and instead exist as a more conceptual exploration into the abstract.  Exploring purely the element of memory, and consciousness.

However, the two intertwine in such a way that one can consider such sensory exploration (memory) in terms of human nature’s tendency to conflict, and seemingly endless war.

Trapped in both human nature, and this apocalyptic circumstance. Trapped in time. 

Real world conflict can be drawn from the similarities between non-empathetic tests done back in Nazi Labour Camps on Jew’s (as seen in figure 1)... and the way in which the ‘Victors’ use the main character as a guinea pig to ‘travel through time’.

Fig. 5

For many in these circumstances, it's been said (as noted in photographer Rankin's work 'Alive: In the Face of Death', (2013) during which a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Lily Ebert, speaks out about humanities attitudes to death in such difficult, hopeless situations,), that being trapped in such a place, where all free will has been limited down to such extremes, meant people felt dehumanised.
All we have of the past is photographs, of a time that might have seemed unending.
"It was upside down for a while. Bad was good, and good was bad. Killing was ok, that was the norm. When you helped somebody, and you tried to be kind to somebody you were punished for that.
So the situation was so bad, that, in a way you wanted to die."
Survivors of horrific ordeals may feel unmoving, or stuck in the past, faced with a time or reality that seems- in light of what's happened- shallow or untruthful to the 'reality'.

In relation to 'La Jetée', these theories around time, as explored in this format, and the links to conflict and our perception of progression during times of hardship.... are merged together and explored visually different ways. Incidentally it is a story that transcends time, despite exploring it as a theme in itself.

Using conflict, a universal tendency in humans, to appeal not just to 1960's audience, but modern day audiences as well. Overall: beautifully designed, and a conceptually fulfilling piece. A story that's both chilling and challenging to face... about man, and his confrontation to mortality, and time.

References

Illustrations

Fig. 1 'La Jetée' (1962), [Film Still], Available at: http://filmslie.com/chris-marker-la-jetee-analysis-temporality/ (Accessed Date:12/01/17).
Fig. 2 'La Jetée' (1962), [Film Still], Available at: http://filmslie.com/chris-marker-la-jetee-analysis-temporality/ (Accessed Date:12/01/17).
Fig. 3 'La Jetée' (1962), [Film Still], Available at: 
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/full/public/image/La-Jetee-1962-bfi-00n-5ro-012.jpg?itok=m7ptZRvu (Accessed Date: 12/01/17).

Fig. 4 'La Jetée' (1962), [Film Still], Available at: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9UvjBJknABw/maxresdefault.jpg (Accessed Date: 12/01/17).

Book

Fig. 5 Baron-Cohen, Simon (2012), 'Zero Degrees of Empathy', England: Penguin Books. 

Websites
Covert, Adrian (2012), 'La Jetée: The Inspiration for 12 Monkeys (and Probably The Terminator', [Online]. Available at: http://gizmodo.com/5883538/la-jetee-the-inspiraton-for-12-monkeys-and-probably-the-terminator (Accessed Date: 13/01/17)

Dillon, Brian (2009), 'Fade Away', [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/mar/28/chris-marker-la-jetee-film (Accessed Date:  12/01/17)

'Filmslie' (2017), 'Chris Marker's La Jetee Analysis: Mortality and the Illusion of Time', [Online]. Available at: http://filmslie.com/chris-marker-la-jetee-analysis-temporality/ (Accessed Date: 13/01/17)

Schantz, Ned (2015), 'Surprised by La Jetée', [Online]. Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/feature-articles/la-jetee/ (Accessed Date:  12/01/17)

Smith, Paul (1991), 'On La Jetée by Jean-Louis Schefer', [Online]. Available at: https://chrismarker.org/chris-marker-2/jean-louis-schefer-on-la-jete/ (Accessed Date: 12/01/17)

'The Criterion Collection' (2017), 'Film Info', [Online]. Available at: https://www.criterion.com/films/329-la-jetee (Accessed Date:  12/01/17)

'The Criterion Collection' (2017), 'Sight & Sound Poll 2012: La Jetée', [Online]. Available at: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2573-sight-sound-poll-2012-la-jetee (Accessed Date:  12/01/17)