In Jean Vigo’s hands, an unassuming tale of conjugal love becomes an achingly romantic reverie of desire and hope. Jean (Jean Dasté), a barge captain, marries Juliette (Dita Parlo), an innocent country girl, and the two climb aboard Jean’s boat, the L’Atalante—otherwise populated by an earthy first mate (Michel Simon) and a multitude of mangy cats—and embark on their new life together. Both a surprisingly erotic idyll and a clear-eyed meditation on love, L’Atalante, Vigo’s only feature-length work, is a film like no other.

Restored in 4K in 2017 by Gaumont in association with Cinémathèque française and The Film Foundation with the support of CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée at L’Immagine Ritrovata and L’Image Retrouvée laboratories from original first generation nitrate prints preserved by BFI, Cineteca Italiana and Cinémathèque française