You’ve heard that one before, right?
But what if we told you that this story is a lot older than the mid-90s?
What if we told youit actually dates back to a 1960s experimental French movie calledLa Jetee?
Image via Argos Films
Granted, the differences are many.
English-language remakes of horror movies rarely outshine their source material.
We can think of one exception, though!
La Jetée is set in a post-apocalyptic Paris after World War III, telling the story of a man who is subjected to time travel experiments due to his vivid memory of a woman he saw as a child at Orly Airport. Constructed almost entirely from still photographs, the film explores themes of memory, time, and fate as the protagonist travels back in time to uncover the past and ultimately confront his destiny.
There’s also something to be said about the visual qualities ofLa Jeteewhen it comes to creating a palpablesci-fiuniverse.
Honestly, it is not that distant from the world Gilliam would eventually create with a lot more money.
After all, isn’t all cinema just a series of static images?
La Jetée is set in a post-apocalyptic Paris after World War III, telling the story of a man who is subjected to time travel experiments due to his vivid memory of a woman he saw as a child at Orly Airport. Constructed almost entirely from still photographs, the film explores themes of memory, time, and fate as the protagonist travels back in time to uncover the past and ultimately confront his destiny.
It is worth noting, though, thatthis doesn’t makeLa Jeteeany slower or more off-putting.
The film is so enthralling that Marker could have even made it into a full feature if he wanted.
But, well, maybe that full feature already exists.
Maybe it’s called12 Monkeys.
