La Jetée: Ciné-roman (2008)

La Jetée: Ciné-roman (2008)

Author: Chris Marker | Designer: Bruce Mau | Page Count: 258

Chris Marker’s La Jetée (1962) is a short experimental film composed almost entirely of still images, with a V/O narration telling the story from an unusual point of view.

The black and white stills used in the film’s composition are faithfully reproduced in the ciné-roman book, with the relevant text accompanying each image. The text is in both French and English (because the original short film was a French production).

If you’re familiar with the original it’s an odd experience having the voice of the narrator replaced by your own inner-narrator. The inflections are different, the pacing is different and the edit is different. Nevertheless, if you can immerse yourself fully in the experience then it’s equally as profound and equally as unsettling.

If you haven’t viewed the film I can’t imagine how you’ll feel about the book or even if it would have the same kind of emotional impact. I recommend a viewing before a reading, simply because you'd be assimilating the works in the order which they were revealed, but there may well be advantages in reversing the process that I'm not aware of and am now incapable of experiencing.

One thing I'm sure of is that once viewed the images become inseparable from the words, regardless if they're first spoken aloud or read from the page.