Chris Marker: La Jetee - Afterall Books / One Work (Paperback)

Chris Marker's legendary "cin roman" ("film novel") La Jete is considered one of the greatest and most influential experimental films of all time. This short film--a postapocalyptic story composed almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs--has been praised by cultural theorists and Netflix subscribers alike. In this illustrated study of La Jete, Janet Harbord focuses in part on the film's treatment of time--its shifts from a pre-war past to a projected future a further future of the future (each with its own signature images and sound)--arguing that in this way it addresses the nature of consciousness and the simultaneity of time-frames that we inhabit. Harbord moves easily from a close reading of the film to discussions of broader cultural issues, lucidly piecing together the enigma that is La Jete.