L' Atalante
This intoxicatingly inventive masterpiece- a perennial entry on best-of-all-time lists- is one of the world's great films.  Jean Vigo's innovative style transforms a simple and engaging plot of a young woman's stormy initiation into married life on a river barge, into a kaleidoscope of dazzling digressions and offbeat characterizations complete with tour-de-force scenes that still seem fresh and startling.Jean, the young captain of the barge L'ATALANTE, marries Juliette, a village girl who has never left home before.  They sail away together along with a cabin boy and the colorful sailor Pere Jules, played by Michel Simon -  in a legendary, uproarious and unpredictable performance forming the very heart of Vigo's magical, anarchic universe.  Becoming bored, Juliette slips off the ship to discover the delights of Paris-  forcing Jean into heartbreak.Restored  in 2001, this version of the film aims to be as faithful to the original as possible.  Viewers can once again enjoy the luminous beauty of Boris Kaufman's evocative cinematography  and the marvelous music of Maurice Jaubert  in Jean Vigo's triumphant masterpiece as it was meant to be seen.