When I was in film school this film flat out changed my life. It allowed me to see what my professors were talking about when they spoke of construction of the story through images. La Jetée still affects how I go about selecting images for my VJ work. It will always be one of my first true loves of cinema.
“This book version of La Jetée is, to my mind, astonishingly beautiful. It brings a total freshness to the work and a new way to use photos to deal with dramatic events. Not a film’s book, but a book in its own right—the real ciné-roman announced in the film’s credits.”
—Chris Marker
La Jetée, the legendary science fiction film about time and memory after a nuclear apocalypse, was released in 1964 and is considered by many critics to be among the greatest experimental films ever made. (It provided the basis for Terry Gilliam’s 1995 film 12 Monkeys.) Chris Marker, who is the undisputed master of the film essay, composed this postapocalyptic story almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs. The story concerns an experiment in recovering and changing the past through the action of memory, yet the film can be read as a poem dominated by a single moving image, which in its context becomes one of the supreme moments in the history of film.
This Zone Books edition reproduces the film’s original images along with the script in both English and French.
About the Author
Chris Marker (born in 1921) is one of French cinema’s most influential artists.
I want to thank X1FM and Edgartronic for have me down there to mix. Very fun time. Most of this cut is me. Some weird video pops up once in awhile of crowds and such that I don’t know the origin of (my guess is post). Not my favorite part but the show was rad and the crowd brought with them a very fun energy that lasted way past the cameras going off.
One small note to the uploader on YouTube – you may want to credit us. It would be nice
Scene 1 A graveyard
Piet the Pot watches Amanda and Amando look for a spot where they can
make love in private. Suddenly Nekrotzar, the grand macabre, emerges
from a grave. Piet laughs with Nekorotzar, but the latter proclaims that he
is Death and that that very night he will destroy the world with the help of a
comet. Nekrotzar recruits Piet as his helper. Meanwhile, Amanda and
Amando go and lie in the empty grave. Nekrotzar mounts Piet as if the
latter were his horse and rides to the capital. The amorous couple’s duet
echoes from the grave.
Scene 2 In the house of the court astrologer Astradamors
The sadistic Mescalina has her husband Astradamors under her thumb.
Having tyrannized him, she makes him study the stars. In the meantime,
Mescalina falls asleep and dreams that the goddess Venus sends her a
better husband. Nekrotzar appears together with Venus. He makes love to
Mescalina and bites her neck like a vampire. Mescalina does not survive
it. Astradamors is happy to be rid of her. Nekrotzar proclaims the end of
the world. Together with Piet and Astradamors, he leaves for Prince Go-
Go’s palace.
Scene 3 Prince Go-Go’s court
Prince Go-Go is patronized by two ministers, The White Minister and the
Black Minister. Gepopo, Chief of the Secret Police, comes to warn Go-Go
that an angry mob is on its way to the palace. The ministers try to pacify
the mob, but the people want to see the prince. Go-Go addresses the
people and blames everything on his ministers. Meanwhile Astradamors
has arrived at the palace; now rid of his wife, he expresses joy with Prince
Go-Go. However, when a siren is heard, Go-Go takes fright.
Nekrotzar appears with Piet and proclaims the end of the world.
The people are afraid. Piet and Astradamors get Nekrotzar drunk.
Nekrotzar enumerates his wrong-doings. An explosion, startled cries and a
bright light indicate the comet is now alarmingly close . . . Nekrotzar
announces that he will destroy the world, but falls asleep in a drunken
stupour.
Scene 4 A graveyard
Piet and Astradamors think they are dead and imagine they are in heaven,
while Go-Go fears he is the only survivor. Ruffiack, Schobiack and
Schabernack appear, intent on killing Go-Go. Nekrotzar awakens from his
drunken sleep and is very disappointed to find that he has not destroyed
the world . . . Mecalina – who was only seemingly dead – suddenly
appears and hurls herself angrily at Nekrtozar; Ruffiack and Schobiack
only just manage to prevent her murdering him. Schabernack brings in the
two ministers, who beg for mercy. The ministers and Mescalina blame
each other, and a free-for-all breaks out. Piet and Astramadors still think
they are in heaven, but when they get thirsty, they realize they are still
alive. Nekrotzar now realizes that his plan has not worked and disappears.
Amando and Amanda emerge from the grave. Finally everyone sings the
moral of the story: ‘Fear not to die, good people all! No one knows when
his hour will fall! And when it comes, then let it be . . . Farewell till then, live
merrily in cheerfulness!’
