Jean, a sailor, is married to Juliette, who, finding herself trapped between her husband and father Jules aboard the barge L'Atalante, becomes bored. She leaves the vessel following an argument. This clip begins with a shot taken from a strange perspective: the camera, in a slightly oblique dive, accompanies Jean, whose moving body seems to hover above the dark water. The viewer is surprised when, in the next shot, it catches the silhouette of a man, who, in an apparently irrational gesture, deliberately jumps into the river. Jean's body is filmed as close as possible in the water. The fluidity and agility of his movement contrasts with the narrowness of the frame which seems to enclose him. He spins and twists, releasing a myriad of white bubbles that burst in his wake. The editing reveals the uproar that seized the occupants of the boat when the child alerts Jules about the fact that the skipper has gone overboard. Jean, underwater, on the other hand does not seem to panic. He moves closer to the camera, as if magnetised by it, his eyes wide open, like a sea creature barely disturbed by curious divers. Suddenly he sees what had led him to commit this act of madness - in the distance a vision of Juliette's silhouette appears, suspended in the water, her wedding dress floating around her like a poached egg. The absence of perspective and the gracefulness of the fabrics floating around the characters reinforces the feeling of weightlessness and fluidity of the bodies moving superimposed on each other. The sensation of Juliette's presence close by soothes Jean. Her bewildered gaze, her disordered gestures are calmed and transformed into a sensual ballet lulled by the music that unites the lovers' bodies at a distance. While Jean's face fills the screen and his distraught gaze scans an off-screen area which we can’t see, Juliette's face finally appears, as if smiling on her wedding day. When he comes to the surface, haggard and soaked, strengthened by this premonition acting as a sign from heaven, he looks again for his beloved.
Comment
Jean, a sailor, is married to Juliette, who, finding herself trapped between her husband and father Jules aboard the barge L'Atalante, becomes bored. She leaves the vessel following an argument. This clip begins with a shot taken from a strange perspective: the camera, in a slightly oblique dive, accompanies Jean, whose moving body seems to hover above the dark water. The viewer is surprised when, in the next shot, it catches the silhouette of a man, who, in an apparently irrational gesture, deliberately jumps into the river. Jean's body is filmed as close as possible in the water. The fluidity and agility of his movement contrasts with the narrowness of the frame which seems to enclose him. He spins and twists, releasing a myriad of white bubbles that burst in his wake. The editing reveals the uproar that seized the occupants of the boat when the child alerts Jules about the fact that the skipper has gone overboard. Jean, underwater, on the other hand does not seem to panic. He moves closer to the camera, as if magnetised by it, his eyes wide open, like a sea creature barely disturbed by curious divers. Suddenly he sees what had led him to commit this act of madness - in the distance a vision of Juliette's silhouette appears, suspended in the water, her wedding dress floating around her like a poached egg. The absence of perspective and the gracefulness of the fabrics floating around the characters reinforces the feeling of weightlessness and fluidity of the bodies moving superimposed on each other. The sensation of Juliette's presence close by soothes Jean. Her bewildered gaze, her disordered gestures are calmed and transformed into a sensual ballet lulled by the music that unites the lovers' bodies at a distance. While Jean's face fills the screen and his distraught gaze scans an off-screen area which we can’t see, Juliette's face finally appears, as if smiling on her wedding day. When he comes to the surface, haggard and soaked, strengthened by this premonition acting as a sign from heaven, he looks again for his beloved.