As much as I would love to be able to claim some sort of intellectual high-ground here, I will say that like many others I came to this film off the back of Twelve Monkeys and that prior to that I had never even heard of La jetée. I watched it back at that time but since then I had not even thought of this film and it was only a short film from John Harden that affectionately spoofed it that made me want to watch the original again. The time has been good to it – not so much the time since I watched it but more the time since I saw Twelve Moneys, because it is surprisingly how similar they are and, as much as I loved the script from Peoples in that film, it is here where the concept, the ideas and the invention is all original.
The story is well played out and it is delivered with real atmosphere. The manner of delivery is fascinating; the use of still images doesn't seem to get in the way of the story telling at all, in fact it may even enhance it since the camera can pick each money from time to summon up a feeling for the viewer – so as long as the picture can do that it can work, and they pretty much all do. The music over the top is perfect as it has a beauty to it but also a slightly sinister edge that fits the story and the setting. The French narration works well as it seems to avoid the cliché that we all have in our heads when coming to something like this (the pretentious art film), but the script is careful and full of some great phrasing, while the narrator is careful to not overegg. The one area where this approach does produce a weakness for me, is in the final twist. It Twelve Monkeys the realisation and the impact is given time to occur and to sink in, but here it happens almost too quickly and too suddenly and, while it is still impacting, it did feel abrupt to me.
Despite this though it is a beautiful film that is commendable across several aspects. The method of delivery is creative and works very well as the photographs are all very well "acted" and very well selected. The music and the narration produce at atmosphere of dread but humanity (for want of a better word) that avoids pretentiousness but is still far from being simplistic or obvious. Well worth seeing and ironically it will more than likely put you into a time loop of your own as this will remind you how good Twelve Monkeys is which in turn will remind you how good La jetée is and so on!
