MovieChat Forums > L'Atalante (1947) Discussion > In the face of death...

In the face of death...

posted 16 years ago by wills4
7 replies | jump to latest

For me, one of the most moving things about this film is that Jean Vigo made it while suffering from severe tuberculosis, and he knew he was going to die within a few months, so he struggled enormously to make "L'Atalante" his final statement in the world before passing. Does anybody know of any works of art (film or otherwise) that were made under similar circumstances? The only other one I can think of is John Coltrane's "Olatunji Concert," which probably doesn't even count since it was never meant by him to be released to a wide audience.

[–] BeastMode 16 years ago

For me, one of the most moving things about this film is that Jean Vigo made it while suffering from severe tuberculosis

Not only that...he was so ill while he was making "L'Atalante" during the unusually cold winter that sometimes he directed from a stretcher. When a friend advised him to guard his health, Vigo replied that "he lacked the time and had to give everything right away."

And he did just that.

A film is never amazing unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.-Welles

[–] lubin-freddy 16 years ago

How about Robert Altman with "A Prairie Home Companion"?

[–] dairypack12 16 years ago

Andrei Tarkovsky was dying from cancer while filming The Sacrifice, dying soon after.

my movies:http://shadowasu.dvdaf.com/owned

[–] jerryluogaz 15 years ago

Well, but Vigo was only 29, his life should just begin...

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Knowing better's better than knowing earlier

[–] mattohmss 13 years ago

Leigh Brackett was dying of cancer while writing "The Empire Strikes Back"; she died just two weeks after turning it in.

She almost certainly gave it her all.

[–] maestro-1 13 years ago

John Huston directed his last film, "The Dead" (1987) from a stretcher with an oxygen mask on. He knew it was his swan song & it gave him the only opportunity he ever had to work with both his son, Tony (who adapted the screenplay from James Joyce's story) & his daughter, Angelica (who stars), at the same time. It is a beautiful film, hard to get nowadays,but well worth hunting down. Definitely poetry & music on film.

[–] guycorhuo 9 years ago

French actor and filmmaker Cyril Collard was dying of AIDS while shooting Les nuites fauves (Savage nights, 1993). As you can check on IMDB this movie won four Cesar Awards -the french Oscars- out of 7 nominations. A really trendy movie at its times that I didn't enjoy so much even accepyting it was a brave movie for being shot in the early 90's (and much less mainstream intended than its contemporaneous Hollywoodesque Philadelphia)