critics consensus

La Jetée pioneers new storytelling possibilities by shaving an ambitious science-fiction narrative down to its bare essentials, achieving a transporting texture with each still frame. Read critic reviews

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La jetée Photos

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Movie Info

Humans research time travel after World War III devastates Paris.

Rating:

TVPG
Genre:

sci fi
Original Language:

French (Canada)
Director:

Chris Marker
Producer:

Anatole Dauman
Writer:

Chris Marker
Release Date (Streaming):

Mar 17, 2017
Runtime:

28m
Production Co:

Argos Films

Cast & Crew

Jean Négroni
Narrator

Hélene Chatelain
The Woman

Davos Hanich
The Man

Jacques Ledoux
The Experimenter

André Heinrich

Jacques Branchu

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for La jetée

Tarsem Singh’s Five Favorite Films

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Critic Reviews for La jetée

All Critics (27) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (2)

Each black-and-white frame is striking, dynamic, surprising, and tragic; they mark you forever.

April 15, 2019 | Full Review…

Adam Nayman
The Ringer
One of the best of all SF films is this haunting, apocalyptic 27-minute French short by the great Chris Marker.

June 6, 2007 | Full Review…

Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
The soundtrack's texture is similarly sparse, and the fluid montage leads the viewer into the sensation of watching moving images. Until, that is, an extraordinary epiphany when an image genuinely does move.

June 24, 2006 | Full Review…

Geoff Andrew
Time Out
I find it tediously pretentious, but there are striking images in it, and it does get across a vague impression of Frankensteinian meddling with the brain.

May 9, 2005 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Bosley Crowther
New York Times
This is Marker's masterpiece.

November 21, 2003 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Jonathan Curiel
San Francisco Chronicle
Operatic melodies and sensational orchestral music by Trevor Duncan make the film incredibly powerful, even at a mere 28 minutes in length.

August 24, 2020 | Rating: 9/10 | Full Review…

Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
A brief experiment in film form, a bold challenge to the conventional wisdom of what constitutes cinema.

August 6, 2019 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Matthew Lucas
From the Front Row
The major influence on Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, La Jete is made up almost entirely of still photographs that tell the futuristic story of a time traveler.

March 9, 2012 | Full Review…

Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
It's a stirring, emotional film about the unique hold memories have over people's lives and how experiences themselves are fleeting.

February 23, 2012 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Eric Melin
Scene-Stealers.com
One of the greatest films ever made.

April 29, 2011 | Rating: 5/5

Phil Hall
Film Threat
Lovely.

January 5, 2008 | Rating: 5/5

Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Always confounding even when it seems accessible, the mysterious and gripping plot raises unanswerable questions about time, memory and the progress of life on this planet.

August 1, 2007 | Rating: A+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

View All Critic Reviews (27)

Audience Reviews for La jetée

Feb 05, 2019

Consisting (almost) entirely of still-shot black-and-white photographs and a male voiceover narration, this is a mesmerizing, poetic and influential photo-roman that uses an intriguing science-fiction concept to discuss memories and our temporal relationship with them.

Carlos M Super Reviewer
Oct 20, 2018

The story is interesting and influential, and I give this short film credit for being groundbreaking in the area of time travel (and/or time loops, time paradoxes, etc). It captures the science fiction aspects and its dystopian elements well, but it also has very humanistic touches in the elusiveness of those little moments in time with someone you love, and how all of us in the end cannot escape time. Unfortunately, the storytelling left me flat both times I watched it. The repetition of still images, the monotone delivery, and slow pace made it tough to fully enjoy. It's a good cure for insomnia though.

Antonius B Super Reviewer
Jan 17, 2015

The hallmark of French science fiction films, La Jetée is a time travel romantic drama where a man is being sent back to the past before the apocalypse occurred and he fell in love with a woman. The film is presented with still images and a narration. I got the same feeling as I watched A Trip to the Moon, it's simple yet serene.

Sylvester K Super Reviewer
Mar 16, 2013

La Jetee is a phenomenal sci-fi movie, and Chris Marker inspired me with this. The story of time is told purely off picture stills and a narrator, but it is more powerful than most films with live actors. Sure this craft has been imitated, but it's never been made as lividly as Marker made it. With in the opening minutes I already forgot that these were just pictures. The story begins complicated, and the concluding made me contemplate everything I've considered to be true. At under thirty minutes the film wastes no time, but it doesn't feel rushed. Absolutely brilliant and memorable.

Daniel D Super Reviewer