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Article: `L'Atalante': Lost Treasure
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 9, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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A BLOODLESS description of Jean Vigo's "L'Atalante" would
indicate a black and white French film, made in 1934, featuring a
mundane boy-girl plot, a collection of French songs and a barge. But
similar scrutiny would define a pearl as a layered piece of grit.
Yes, this movie's about a boy (Jean Daste), a girl (Dita Parlo)
and a barge (called L'Atalante), but it's also a jewel of a movie,
which has been recently recut, reshone and redisplayed by archival
champions Pierre Philippe and Jean-Louis Bompoint. If you watch
films with any kind of aesthetic pulse, this one will quicken your
pleasure as often as you see it. And this movie you should see
often.
Between its captivating opening, in ...