Hitchcoc It takes amazing talent to take a claustrophobic barge, put three people on it, and turn it into a lovely, engaging film. There are several themes at work here. First of all, we have the newlyweds. At times we don't quite get why they ever married. Each is a personality that portrays a recipe for disaster. Secondly, the boat itself is a character, moored in ugly seaside places, each providing places for events to happen. Temptations and distractions and challenges and so on. Of course, love does conquer all, and when the young lady goes astray (although she probably has reason to do so) she finally pulls the guy back into her precious being. I don't know if this is as great as some make it, but it is so very captivating. Don't miss it.

bts1984 As I am writing this review in 2014, this movie celebrates its 80th anniversary. Some years ago it was considered the greatest movie ever. It's a pretty good movie indeed, but claiming it as the best ever is a perfect nonsense. As the movie is celebrating its 80th anniversary, the critics seem to be a little more reasonable, considering it now the 12th greatest movie ever. Claiming it as the 12th greatest ever is a nonsense too, but better that than claiming it as the greatest of all.That said, this is a movie with significant historical and sentimental value. It was the first and last full-length film directed by the promising young director Jean Vigo, who was taken away from us too soon. Jean Vigo only directed two documentary movies ("À propos de Nice" and "Taris, roi de l'eau") and one controversial featurette ("Zéro de conduite"). "L'Atalante" would be his first and only full-length motion picture. He always had a fragile health but his illness worsened considerably when he directed "L'Atalante" and that finished him off. Although he knew he was going to die soon, he still wanted to make the movie until the end. You can say that he gave his life to make this movie. Despite his short movie career he left his mark and later influenced french directors such as François Truffaut and the French New Wave."L'Atalante" was also released under the interesting alternative title «Le chaland qui passe». It's as simple and basic as a movie can be. Even though it takes place mostly inside a crude river barge, it also has nice sights of some french village in the beginning and later some lovely sights of the gorgeous city of Paris. And a good thing they did that, because if the whole thing was inside an ugly cargo ship, it would have been boring.Generally speaking, the characters are nothing too special, despite the good performances by the respective actors.Jean Dasté is Jean, whom I have a divisive opinion about. On one hand he is quite funny at times, but on the other hand he shows he is impulsive and bossy. To be honest, sometimes he really is a douche, especially towards the cats and his wife.Dita Parlo is Juliette (Jean's wife). She isn't particularly charming and not really hot in nature, but she is usually a decent woman and fine-looking rather than a "fatal attraction".Michel Simon is Père Jules, an eccentric old sailorman. While his moral nature is questionable (well, you wouldn't expect anything but lack of politeness from a sailorman), he is a fun and entertaining character. Louis Lefebvre is the cabin boy with a bizarre voice. Not much of a character, although there are some funny scenes with him.Gilles Margaritis is the street peddler. He is the funniest character of the film. I know that he wasn't supposed to have much of a role, but still it's a shame that his role wasn't bigger. Plus, in a way I think that Juliette should have ended up with him instead of going back to Jean.The soundtrack is nice, especially the Main Theme and the music that is played in the nightclub where Jean and Juliette meet the street peddler.The french of this movie can be really difficult to understand. Extra-attention is required to understand it as much as possible, because the language is often spoken very quickly. That characteristic is particularly notorious on Michel Simon, although part of the reason could be his nationality (he was swiss, and the swiss french has its peculiarities).In theory that is not so bad if you've got subtitles, but if you don't... on the other hand, even with subtitles, for people who want to understand, feel and learn the french, it can be quite hard to understand the thunder-paced french in this movie.Title in Portugal: 'O Atalante'.

valadas This movie was classified in a recent critics' poll as one of the best 100 films ever made. Though I don't put it on there in fact I liked it enough to classify it as a good one. Immediately after their wedding in church a young couple goes running to live in a barge where the husband is a skipper and navigates on river Seine. The action takes place within the barge most of the time which begins to annoy the wife. There besides they, only live and work a boy and and eccentric mate, Père Jules with his bunch of cats, acted by the great Michel Simon whose performance only by itself could make the film worth to be seen. Tensions between husband and wife begin to arise and turn out soon a bit dramatic as expected. Everything is told in lively images and some unexpected and surprising scenes. A firmly directed movie and well acted.

museumofdave If you have patience for a black and white foreign film that's seventy years old, that takes you to a world which no longer exists, a honeymoon on the Seine, the young couple attempting to find some romance amid quirky squalor, a sailor's world of work and drink, a place where a bride must learn to shift for herself when her husband fails to understand her need for a little magic, well-this is that film. An actor named Michel Simon essays an eccentric boatman who loves cats, keeps his perhaps-lovers severed hands in a jar, and who loves his old phonograph, steals much of the picture, but the cinematographer swipes even more, with moods of shadows and light hovering around some of the most erotic non-explicit lovemaking ever put on film. Director Vigo's longest film is a challenge to watch, but worth filing in your movie gems library. It is both groundbreaking and heart-warming, intelligent and experimental. L'Atlante is a classic that continues to earn it's status.