Vigo, Jean

(1905-1934)

   film director

   Born in Paris, Jean Vigo, whose innovative style of cynicism, stark realism, and dramatic imagery would profoundly influence French cinema, began his life with both medical and social difficulties. An asthmatic, both his parents were political activists often in conflict with the authorities (his father, the anarchist Almereyda, died in prison in 1917 under mysterious circumstances). in 1929, after studying at the sorbonne, he married Elizabeth Losinka and began his directing career. His first film, À propos de Nice (1930), a satire on the egotism and vanity of the bourgeoisie, was followed by Taris champion de natation (1931) and Zéro de conduite (1933), a sharp criticism of the educational system and a strong antiauthoritarian statement that was banned shortly after its premiere and rereleased only in 1945. Vigo's last film was L'Atalante (1934), a proletarian love story set on a barge on the seine is generally considered his masterpiece. Notable for its combination of surrealistic imagery and dreamlike romanticism, combined with a great naturalism, the film had been released for only a few days when he died. Although his promising career was cut short too early, Vigo's few works are greatly appreciated and have considerably influenced such later filmmakers as François truffaut and jean-LUC GODARD.