Chris Marker’s 1962 film La Jetée narrates a story in a very different way that we are used to seeing in the movie format. Marker uses the combination of still images, many of them repeated throughout the sequence, music and sounds, and a narration provided by a male voice. The story is very intriguing. The images of the protagonist’s childhood that compel him throughout his life, end up being the images of his own death. I find the storyline a bit confusing though. The concept of time travel is something that is pretty hard to grasp because it is not something that we are able to
do, and if we were able to do it, would our presence in whatever time we went to change was has already happened? The protagonist’s viewing of his own death is integral to what happens to him later on in life. But then in the storyline of the film, we are left at the scene of the man’s death, at the airport, where the boy views it. Is this story destined to by cyclical? Is this world created by Marker stuck in this singular path? Does the boy grow up again and repeat the same actions? Or is he able to choose a different destiny later on? Although I find myself questioning the plot of the film, I think that Marker’s way of presenting it is very successful. His use of repetition allows the viewer to build a relationship with the image. And although the image doesn’t change, our understanding of it does as we learn more information from the narrator and see more events that unfold. I think that all of the components of the story are very dependent on one another. If we were just to see the see the sequence of images, without any sound or narration, I think we’d be able to understand maybe the essence of the story, but we really wouldn’t be able to glean enough information to truly understand the characters and their relationships with one another. I wonder how different the experience would be if this film was translated into a book and all of the narration became text that the viewer read. Even though this experience would allow the reader to be able to create a bit of a cinematic, visual experience in their minds with the help of the text, I don’t think it
would quite as successful as the film itself. In the reading, they mention the usage of black leader between images. This creates a tension of the viewer, waiting for either the narrator to start speaking again, or for the return of an image, and creates a specific atmosphere or mood. The convention of sound is a crucial element in the film. But even though a book format would be a very different experience than the film, it has made me think a lot about the sequencing of images and what story can unfold from a simple decision as the repetition of an image.