I have mixed feelings about this one: the history of its editing is so long, complicated and all the more dramatic that Vigo died just after having finished it. Famous director Truffaut passion for it is contagious. The story is original even today (the way to become a sailor wife on a ship) and some moments are really beautiful and poetic and offers a vision of Paris faraway of cliches of the city of light and closer to Eraserhead world...
But i'm french and this is France and i just can't stand this old, rustic country! It's always the same thing: With King Kong, America just showed how past and future could rejoice while in France, this boat tale doesn't exit a dark, gloomy country, with no comfort, peasant traditions, no visions for a bright future! Actor Simon is a very painful character to watch, between Quasimodo and Planet of Apes, no hygiene, drunk, half mad: for me, he is the anchor that drowns the ship!
At the end, Vigo could claim some rights to Cameron Titanic because its poster (Atalante) is clearly the inspiration for the cult moment at the bow (Titanic)!
But i'm french and this is France and i just can't stand this old, rustic country! It's always the same thing: With King Kong, America just showed how past and future could rejoice while in France, this boat tale doesn't exit a dark, gloomy country, with no comfort, peasant traditions, no visions for a bright future! Actor Simon is a very painful character to watch, between Quasimodo and Planet of Apes, no hygiene, drunk, half mad: for me, he is the anchor that drowns the ship!
At the end, Vigo could claim some rights to Cameron Titanic because its poster (Atalante) is clearly the inspiration for the cult moment at the bow (Titanic)!