À Propos de Nice ***** (1930, director Jean Vigo) – Classic Movie Review 8657

Jean Vigo’s deservedly acclaimed 1929 avant-garde ‘point-of-view’ documentary A Propos de Nice satirises the difference between the rich tourists promenading in the sun on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on the French Cote d’Azur and the poor inhabitants of the run-down parts of the old town of between-the-wars Nice.

It all looks – and seems – simple now, but it is strikingly photographed (by Boris Kaufman, younger brother of Russian director Denis Kaufman (aka Dziga Vertov), whose film theories Vigo applies here) and it is often outstandingly effective.

Among the clever, eye-catching surreal images: a woman turns into a skeleton in the sun, a croupier scoops up new tourists, a girl in a café becomes nude, and animals replace humans on the promenade.

This precious piece of film runs just 25 minutes.

Vigo died after just four films, but Kaufman (1906–1980) became an important Hollywood cinematographer, including shooting On the Waterfront (1954).

Jean Vigo made just four films – À Propos de Nice, Taris, Zero for Conduct and L’Atalante – before his death from TB aged only 29 on 5 October 1934.  He was the son of anarchist militant Miguel Almareyda, who was jailed when Vigo was 12. Abandoned by his mother, Vigo attended various boarding schools, as reflected in Zero for Conduct.

A Propos de Nice is directed by Jean Vigo, runs 25 minutes, is made by Lozinski and Pathé-Natan, released by Pathé (1930) (France) and British Film Institute (BFI) (1953) (UK), is written by Jean Vigo and is shot by Boris Kaufman.

It was released by The Criterion Collection on DVD in 2011 in the US.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8657

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Jean Vigo made just four films.