Female Body and Conflict Between the Sexes in French Cinema - Essay Example

But grief and a desire for meeting his wife put Jean in a state of depression. Juliette is lost in the world of prostitutes, thieves, and beggars; she frantically searches for her husband and the barge. Pere Jules, an aged second mate of the ship makes an honest effort to find Juliette and succeeds in the happy reunion of the couple.

Jean Vigo’s French film is also known as ‘Le chaland qui passé’ (The Passing Barge). From the plot, it is quite evident that is based on the universal conflict of sexes. Jean feels that Juliette has no right to independent pleasures. The female body of Juliette is his object of desire. The passionate filmmaker’s direction and the cast’s riveting performances have made this movie feature in the list of some of the best movies made worldwide. It has the elements of drama, romance, and fun; it is greatly sexual in flavor. The cinematic technique that Jean uses in his movie is visual fantasy alike his feature film titled Zero de Conduite (Zero for Conduct). For this, we need to say that Jean Vigo’s camera direction and arrangements could create stunning visual compositions. He conveyed his messages through images; if words were used it was to add fun and humor so that a comic effect is generated in the movie.

The opening sequence of the film shows the couple’s shift from the church aisle to the cargo delivery ship that doubles up as a honeymoon destination. Jean loves his wife to such jealous extremes that he cannot stand Juliette taking to Peter Jules or her encounter with the flirtatious street peddler. The beauty of the film lies in the exquisitely shot scenes, namely the famous underwater scene as well as street seller’s scene, gramophone music scene, and the drunken scene. Most of the scenes of the film are enamored with an essence of eroticism. Their longing for each other, even when they are not together, has a touch of sexuality. Andre Bazin, a famous French critic has made an interesting comment about Jean Vigo who “had an almost obscene taste for the flesh”. (Derek Malcolm’s Century of Film, 1999)