second time's a charm

So I have a confession… this was actually my second time watching Chris Marker’s La Jetee. I last watched the film over a year ago, and my feelings towards it have not changed. I was happy to realize that I still found the film as beautifully and tragically intriguing as before, despite the loss of sound. Marker’s decision to use still photographs seems so very appropriate, especially during the sequences depicting the man’s time spent with the woman of his dreams. It is the only time when you can witness pure joy in the laughter and amusement of the characters. It is almost as though Marker has captured a treasured memory, trapped in a time which can never be lost. The camera sort of freezes motion and yet preserves it in such a perfect way that, in my opinion, surpasses the ideas of cinematic motion of the 1920s avant-garde artists. I love how he inserts just one clip of motion within the film; the woman blinks and smiles so naturally that the viewer has difficulty ascertaining if she just imagined it. Watching the film on Thursday, I vaguely noticed a few similarities in theme with Meshes in the Afternoon, particularly the concept of drifting in and out of time, of being unsure whether you are awake or asleep. And, of course, they both have that crazy twist at the end. What does it mean for a man to witness his own death?