Chris Marker’s 1962 film, La Jetée, clocks in at a mere twenty-eight minutes, but once seen, will stay with its viewers forever. In French, the phrase la jetée denotes “a pier,” and it is one man’s childhood memory of standing on a pier, watching planes take off, that forms the linchpin of this sf masterpiece.
A winner of a French prize for a Short Film, La Jetée appears on many lists of the greatest films of all time and served as a major influence for sf writer William Gibson. If you’ve enjoyed Terry Gilliam’s 1995 movie, Twelve Monkeys, you owe it to yourself to see the film that inspired it.
PLOT SUMMARY WITHOUT SPOILERS
La Jetée takes place in a near-future post-apocalyptic setting following World War III. Civilization is in shambles, lacking the necessary technology to produce energy. The only hope is if someone can travel to the future and get aid from a more technologically advanced civilization. But how is this to be done?
The scientists believe time travel can take place using a person’s mind rather than any kind of a machine. Prisoners are blindfolded and with the reduced sensory imput, have the opportunity to move their consciousness to a different time. The scientists, represented by a creepy man with spectacles, decide that the first thing to do is for the traveler to learn how to return to the past before aiming for the future.
One man seems to be most suited for this experiment. He has a powerful memory of a pre-war time standing as a child at the pier where a man is shot. In particular, he has a strong memory of the face of a particular woman. In time, using mental powers alone, he not only can travel back to that place in time, but also can physically insert his body in that time as well.
Appearing and disappearing over time, he begins a relationship with the woman. Once he has fully succeeded at this, he is ready to move his consciousness to contact the humans of the future. He explains to them that if they do not help, their own civilization will be in jeopardy. The final twist that follows his travels to the future will both shock you and fill you with a sense of awe. The film’s haunting score amplifies these feelings and sensations.
Interestingly, La Jetée consists of a series of still black and white photographs, except for one intimate scene between the time traveler and the woman he has grown to love.
WHERE TO FIND LA JETÉE
The original film has French narration along with scattered German spoken by the scientists. You can watch a version with English subtitles on Vimeo. and a version with English dubbing on Amazon Prime. Visually impaired viewers will get a good chunk of what’s going on from the narrative but may benefit from having a sighted person to describe the photographs.
If you are eager to have a provocative, artistic, and emotional sf experience you can’t do much better than La Jetée. Happy viewing!
Naomi S. S. Jacobs (she/they) is an artist, poet, activist, Jewish historian, and writer of speculative fiction, including alternate history about power couple Alan Turing and Harvey Milk.