Editing Jean Vigo

{{Short description|French film director (1905–1934)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jean Vigo
| image =Jean Vigo.jpg
| caption = Vigo, 1930s
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|4|26|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1934|10|5|1905|4|26|df=yes}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| occupation = Film director
| years_active = 1930–1934
}}
'''Jean Vigo''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ viɡo|lang}}; 26 April 1905 &ndash; 5 October 1934) was a  French [[film director]] who helped establish [[poetic realism]] in film in the 1930s. His work influenced [[French New Wave]] cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

==Biography==
Vigo was born to Emily Cléro and the militant [[Anarchism|anarchist]] [[Miguel Almereyda]].<ref name="501MD">{{cite book|title=501 Movie Directors|editor-first=Steven Jay|editor-last=Schneider|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|location=London|year=2007|page=145|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}}</ref> Much of Vigo's early life was spent on the run with his parents. His father was imprisoned and probably murdered in [[Fresnes Prison]] on 13 August 1917, although the death was officially a suicide. Some speculated that Almereyda's death was hushed up on orders of the [[Radical Party (France)|Radical]] politicians [[Louis Malvy]] and [[Joseph Caillaux]], who were later punished for wartime treason.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gomes|first=Paulo Emílio Salles|title=Jean Vigo|url=https://archive.org/details/jeanvigo0000gome|url-access=registration|publisher=University of California Press|year=1971|isbn=978-0-520-01676-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jeanvigo0000gome/page/27 27–29]}}</ref> The young Vigo was subsequently sent to boarding school under an assumed name, Jean Sales, to conceal his identity.

Vigo was married and had a daughter, Luce Vigo, a film critic, in 1931. He died in 1934 of complications from [[tuberculosis]],<ref name="501MD">{{cite book|title=501 Movie Directors|editor-first=Steven Jay|editor-last=Schneider|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|location=London|year=2007|page=145|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}}</ref> which he had contracted eight years earlier.

==Career==
Vigo is noted for two films that affected the future development of both French and world cinema: ''[[Zero for Conduct]]'' ([[1933 in film|1933]]) and ''[[L'Atalante]]'' ([[1934 in film|1934]]).''Zero for Conduct'' was approvingly described by critic [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] in ''[[The New Biographical Dictionary of Film]]'' as "forty-four minutes of sustained, if roughly shot anarchic crescendo."<ref name="Thomson">{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/878554273 |title=The New Biographical Dictionary of Film |publisher=Knopf |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-375-71184-8 |edition=Sixth |location=New York |pages=1073 |oclc=878554273}}</ref> ''L'Atalante'' was Vigo's only full-length feature. The simple story of a newly married couple splitting and reuniting effortlessly merges unpolished, naturalistic filmmaking with shimmering, dreamlike sequences and effects. Thomson described the result as "not so much a masterpiece as a definition of cinema, and thus a film that stands resolutely apart from the great body of films."<ref name="Thomson2">{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/190621111 |title=Have You Seen?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films |publisher=Knopf |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-307-26461-9 |edition=Revised |location=New York |pages=51 |oclc=190621111}}</ref>

His career began with two other films: ''[[À propos de Nice]]'' ("about [[Nice]]", 1930), a subversive [[silent film]] that considered social inequity in the resort town of [[Nice]] and was inspired by Soviet newsreels; and ''[[Jean Taris, Swimming Champion]]'' (1931), a short documentary film about the swimmer [[Jean Taris]]. None of his four films was a financial success; at one point, with his and his wife's health suffering, Vigo was forced to sell his camera.

''Zero for Conduct'' was banned<ref name="501MD" /> by the French government until after the war, and ''L'Atalante'' was mutilated by its distributor.  By this point, Vigo was too ill to strenuously fight the matter. Both films have outlived their detractors; ''L'Atalante'' was chosen as the 10th-greatest film of all time in ''[[Sight & Sound]]''{{'}}s 1962 poll, and as the 6th-best in its 1992 poll. In the late 1980s a 1934 copy of ''L'Atalante'' was found in the [[National Film and Television Archive|British National Film and Television Archive]], and became a key element in the restoration of the film to its original version.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Temple|first1=Michael|title=Jean Vigo|date=2005|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-5632-1|page=108}}</ref>

Writing on Vigo's career in ''[[The New York Times]]'', film critic [[Andrew Johnston (critic)|Andrew Johnston]] stated: "The ranks of the great film directors are short on [[John Keats|Keatses]] and [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelleys]], young artists cut off in their prime, leaving behind a handful of great works that suggest what might have been. But one who qualifies is Jean Vigo, the French director who died of tuberculosis at age 29 in 1934."<ref>''The New York Times'', 11 June 2000</ref>

== Filmography ==
* 1930: ''[[À propos de Nice]]''
* 1931: ''[[Jean Taris, Swimming Champion|La Natation par Jean Taris]]'' or ''Taris, roi de l'eau''
* 1933: ''[[Zero for Conduct|Zéro de conduite]]''
* 1934: ''[[L'Atalante]]''

==Awards==
2011 [[Parajanov-Vartanov Institute]] Award posthumously honored Jean Vigo <ref>http://www.parajanov.com/institute{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.laweekly.com/son-of-anarchy-father-of-a-critic-a-tribute-to-jean-vigo-at-ucla/|title=Son of Anarchy, Father of a Critic: A Tribute to Jean Vigo at UCLA|first=Nicolas|last=Rapold|date=7 April 2011|website=LA Weekly|access-date=30 January 2020}}</ref> for ''Zero for Conduct'' and was presented to his daughter and French film critic [[Luce Vigo]]. [[Martin Scorsese]] wrote a letter for the occasion<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vartanovcom.wordpress.com/|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20141022052353/http://www.parajanov.com/institute.html|url-status=dead|title=VartanovCom|archive-date=22 October 2014|website=VartanovCom|access-date=30 January 2020}}</ref> with praise for Vigo, [[Sergei Parajanov]] and [[Mikhail Vartanov]], all of whom struggled with heavy censorship.

==Legacy==
*The [[Prix Jean Vigo]] is an annual award given since 1951 to outstanding French film directors.
*The [[Jean Vigo Award]] is an annual prize given to Best Director at the Navarra Int'l Documentary Film Festival in Spain.
*''Jean Vigo'', a biographical play about Vigo by Paulo Emilio Salles Gomez<ref name=Gale>{{cite book |title=British and Irish dramatists since World War II. |date=2001 |publisher=Gale Group |location=Detroit |isbn=0787646628 |pages=121–122 |edition=Third series |url=https://archive.org/details/britishirishdram0245unse/page/120/mode/2up?q=%22Chris+Ward%22 |access-date=8 February 2021}}</ref>
*''Love's A Revolution'', a stage adaptation of the Gomez play by [[Chris Ward (playwright)|Chris Ward]]<ref name=Gale/>
*''Vigo: Passion for Life'', a 1998 British biopic based on the Ward play, starring [[James Frain]]<ref name=Gale/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Gomes |first=P. E. Salles |title=Jean Vigo |year=1998 |publisher=Editions du Seuil, 1957|location=Paris |isbn=0-571-19610-1}}
* {{cite web | author=Le Cain, Maximilian | title=Jean Vigo | work=Senses of Cinema | url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/vigo/ | accessdate=18 May 2007 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070205081745/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/vigo.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 5 February 2007}}
* {{Cite book |last=Temple |first=Michael |title=Jean Vigo |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780719056338}}
* {{cite book |last=Wakeman |first=John |title=World Film Directors, Volume 1, 1890–1945 |year=1987 |publisher=The H. W. Wilson Company, 1987 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-82420-757-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/worldfilmdirecto0000unse }}
* {{cite book |last1=Weir |first1=David |title=Jean Vigo and the Anarchist Eye |date=2014 |publisher=On Our Own Authority! |location=Atlanta |isbn=978-0990641810}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|name=Jean Vigo|id=0897118}}
* [http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/vigo/ Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051027133542/http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/VigoJean.htm Jean Vigo] ''Anarchist Encyclopedia''
* [http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Cinematheca/Chronologia/1930_1939/Vigo/vig_intr.html Jean Vigo] (Bibliotheca Augustana)
* [http://www.puntodevistafestival.com Punto de Vista festival "sees Jean Vigo as a permanent point of reference and guide."]

{{Jean Vigo}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigo, Jean}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1934 deaths]]
[[Category:Film directors from Paris]]
[[Category:French anarchists]]
[[Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in France]]