L'Atalente was the name L'Atalante is the name of a barge where the story of tender love, jealousy, separation, and reunion between a newly wed young couple. I didn't realise I had watched it some three years ago until when Michel Simon welcomed the bride on board.
Though it was my second viewing, it felt as fresh and powerful as ever. I was impressed with the high calibre performance from all three main actors, in particular that from Dita Parlo whose face and body languages tell a thousand stories. The story was simple but it had a sensuousness and raw touch that never aged - that of human being, the primitive desire that words can never express, and the longing for touch, love, or simply seeing each other and being together. It was also very poetic especially the scene depicting how deeply Jean was missing his wife. Not a word from him about his wife since he abandoned her for jealousy but what a lost soul he had become: he let his beard grow, lost interest in life, and in the end, he plunged his head into a bucket of cold water, and then himself into the river. The 'miracle' - that in water one could see their lovers - was a secret between the couple and therefore his workmates thought it was simply another act of madness from their silent and moody captain. These sequences of Jean's misery, regret and loneliness was almost like a silent movie: the characters of central concern remain quiet silent throughout and all we heard was but occasional expressions of concern from his mates which work more like captions. Yet the power of the image was such that the sentiments of both characters were convened strong and live.
Probably because of its age (made in 1934), the picture looked rather raw but so was its power in reaching the audience. It might be a simple or even a cliche story but the story telling was just magical.
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