La Jetee’s fans insist that it’s the finest science fiction
film ever made, and why not? It’s truly unique, implementing a
series of hundreds of unmoving pictures, beautifully edited
together to tell a mind-bending story of time travel that
doubles as a melancholy fable about memory, loss, childhood,
and destiny. Only for a moment is there any action on screen
(besides the implied action in the cuts from shot to shot), and
that motion is one of the cinema’s most profound. It's no
exaggeration, finally, to say that La Jetee may represent
film's closest approach to poetry.
This has been dubbed onto video from prints of varying quality;
your best bet is a university film series or perhaps an art
house or museum near you.
![[****]](4star.gif)
