L'Atalante [Blu-ray] Frans gesproken met Engelse ondertiteling

When Juliette marries Jean, she comes to live with him as he captains a river barge. Besides the two of them, are a cabin boy and the strange old second mate, Pere Jules. Soon bored by life on the river, she slips off to see the nightlife when they land at Paris. Angered by this, Jean sets off, leaving Juliette behind. Overcome by grief and longing for his wife, Jean falls into a depression and Pere Jules goes searching for Juliette.

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The restoration and theatrical re-release of L'Atalante was nothing less than a cinematic event. The movie had been edited to shreds shortly after it's doomed director, Jean Vigo, had presented his original work to an apparently incenced Parisian audience. Just as with Rites of Spring, the Golden Age and Coltrane/Dolphy, the emnity that the work generated from the French audience was strong evidence to the quality and importance of this brilliant piece of avant garde.
The movie has been described as a combination of both surrealism and realism, but in truth Vigo's vision is entirely unique, and the style died with him. The emotional mood is practically labile and often ironic, such as the funeral-like reactions of onlookers to the wedding of the young couple, that opens the story. There are gentley jarring moments scattered about; the images of the later estranged lovers, shots of the two hugging themselves, imagining the other, combined to present a haunting view of romance defies description (obviously) and are unforgettable.
More captivating than the two young leads is Michedl Simon as the first mate. His comedy touches can only be called sublime. The scene when the bride comes to visit his cabin and witness all his wondrous bounty of mechanical diversion is truely one of film's great gems.