Monday, February 01, 2010

A stroke of luck - I'm killing time in Whitefriargate while the missus shops elsewhere. I go in that record store I don't really like and, EUREKA! The complete works of Jean Vigo on DVD for twelve quid. That plus another DVD of biographical material, including interviews with people who knew and worked with the little fellow.
I always wanted my own copy of "Zéro de Conduite", but now I've copped the lot. Pure gold. I prefer "Zéro ..." to "L'Atalante", but that seems to be a minority verdict. Maybe now I'll be able to pick out Jacques Prévert among the wedding party in L'Atalante. I've seen it, I think, three times, but I still haven't clocked him.
I didn't know until now that the boy Vigo was present when Jaurès was assassinated. I always thought Jaurès was shot while addressing an open air meeting, but no. He was sitting in a café and Vigo and his dad were there too. Then the old man gets topped in prison by a screw. Vigo claimed to know the name of his father's killer.

My copy of "Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion" claims that Jean Vigo's real surname was Almereyda. Not so, that was his father's pen name, an anagram of "Y a la merde", "there is shit". There was, and the anarchist journalist knew about too much of it to be allowed to live.

4 comments:

thankgodimatheist said...

Nice to hear you're a fan of Vigo. I grew up with his classics, notably "Zero de Conduite"..Brings tears to ..etc.

Jemmy Hope said...

Yes, that's my favourite too. But I watched L'Atalante the other night and I noticed something for the first time. The barge skipper, when he's going through the wringer over his missing wife, runs down to the sea shore, stares out to sea, then turns back ... which is what Truffaut's alter ego does at the end of "The 400 Blows". I think Truffaut acknowledged his debt to Vigo.

thankgodimatheist said...

I must have seen l'Atalante 35 years ago, if not more!! I wish I can have a chance to see it again. I can see what you mean by Vigo's influence on Truffaut. I see a thread between "Les 400 coupS" and rather "Zero de conduite". But I need to check l'Atalante. Your description of that scene gave me an "avant gout" and I saliving for the rest.

Jemmy Hope said...

I have to say, the story of "L'Atalante" would not be to my taste in anyone else's hands. A Hollywood remake would probably turn it into a "chick flick". (Hollywood remake, perish the thought!)