Jean Vigo

Biography: life and films

Born in Paris in 1905, Jean Vigo was the son of a political anarchist who was arrested by the French authorities and died in prison in 1919. Vigo's mother tried to keep his father's past from him, going so far as to change the family name.

Afflicted by tuberculosis from an early age, Vigo spent many years in an asylum, where he met his future wife. Leaving the asylum, Vigo had a profound passion to make films, and he was greatly influenced by his father's secret history when he found this out. However, Vigo's reactionary views won him few friends and he faced considerable opposition from the establishment.

His first film, A propos de Nice, was a short silent film made in 1929 and was a satire on the town renowned for its carnivals and casinos. His second film was a documentary about a champion swimmer, Taris, roi de l'eau (1931).

His next film, Zéro de conduite, was his first major work, a film relating the conflict between teachers and students in a boarding school. Although now regarded as an impressive film, it was immediately banned by the film censors when it was first released as being seditious.

An independent producer, Jacques-Louis Nounez encouraged Vigo to make a long film involving a love story set on a barge. L'Atalante was to become Vigo's most successful film and an icon of French cinema, although it was made under the most precarious financial difficulties - and Vigo's health was failing. After an initial unsuccessful showing, the film was drastically cut and renamed Le chaland qui passe, and even then it proved to be a commercial disaster.

Vigo died in Paris from septicaemia shortly after L'Atalante was released. He was just 29 years old. He is now acknowledged as one of the great heroes of French cinema and a standard-bearer for independent film makers.

Filmography