Jean Vigo
À propos de Nice (1930) - Jean Vigo
image sourced from Film as a Subversive Art (1974) - Amos Vogel
À propos de Nice (1930) - Jean Vigo
image sourced from Film as a Subversive Art (1974) - Amos Vogel
Biography
Jean Vigo (April 26, 1905 - October 5, 1934) was a French film director. The son of the famous French anarchist Eugene Bonaventure de Vigo (also known as Miguel Almereyda), much of his early life was spent on the run with his parents. His father was found dead in mysterious circumstances after capture in a prison cell in 1917 and Vigo was subsequently sent to boarding school under an assumed name, Jean Sales, to conceal his identity.
He is noted for two very important films which significantly affected the future development of both French and world cinema: Zéro de Conduite (1933) (trans.:Zero for Conduct) and L'Atalante (1934).
He also made two other films: A Propos de Nice (1929), a highly subversive silent film examining social inequity in 1920s Nice and the film Taris (1931), an elegant motion study of swimmer Jean Taris.
His films have been depicted by some and certainly by contemporaneous political administrations as being unpatriotic and were consequently heavily censored by the French government. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Vigo [Aug 2005]
À propos de Nice (1930) - Jean Vigo
He also made two other films: A Propos de Nice (1929), a highly subversive silent film examining social inequity in 1920s Nice . --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Vigo [Aug 2005]
See also: French cinema - 1930 - France - film
Zéro de Conduite (1933) - Jean Vigo
Zéro de Conduite (trans. No Marks for Conduct) is a 1933 film by French film director Jean Vigo. It was first shown on April 7, 1933. It was subsequently banned in France.
The film draws extensively on Vigo's boarding school experiences to depict a repressive and institutionalised educational establishment in which surreal acts of rebellion occur. In many ways, this film anticipates Lindsay Anderson's film If... by more than 30 years. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%E9ro_de_Conduite [Dec 2004]
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