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There are plenty of reasons to call movies of Jean Vigor real masterpieces. One of the most significant is style of his montage. The first feature I would like to recount is contrast which is created with scene change. Best of all it is noticeable in “?? Propos De Nice”. We watch wealthy people resting on the beach or in the cafe??, and next we see an everyday life of the working class. Another interesting contrast: people having fun on the parade are shown and then – the cemetery.
In this movie contrasting montage is used to convey the fascinating atmosphere of the modern city which is always balancing between luxury and poverty, life and death. In “Zero De conducted” this manner of contrast is not so conspicuous. However, it could be detected in change of scenes with the adult mentor acting like a child, excessively severe housemaster and frightening midget- headmaster whose seriousness is there to be ridiculed. The next feature to mention is surreal elements which had a place to be in all of his movies.
Objects appearing and disappearing in children’ hands, moving drawing in “Zero De conducted”, in “?? Propos De Nice” – women at the table in cafe?? who follow each other with a blink of the eye, especially the naked one… All of this has the aim to create the dynamic of reality. More than that, it is a fine method to show how unusual ordinary things could be. There is also surreal element in “Tarts, ROI De luau”. At the end of the short film we are demonstrated Tarts in outwear who is seemed to go away through the water (with the overlay effect).
The point of this mounting expedient is otherwise. As I see it, in this way author intended to discover the real identity of the swimmer who was remaining the man subduing the nature every second of his life. Another edit method in “Tarts” I would like to write about is reversal playback of shots where the swimmer Jumps into the pool and its repetition in slow motion. Widely used in sport chronicle nowadays, reverse and slow motion are ways to incidentally show the perfection of athlete’s body and movements, to give the viewer chance to e it in the details.
It only could be guessed if Jean Vigor had the similar point. Nevertheless, for me it was a way to turn an everyday motion into the Art. When I watched Tarts was swimming I immediately remembered the famous words of that Prince of Denmark: “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! “