Watch David Bowie’s tribute to Chris Marker’s ‘La Jetée’
Throughout his pioneering career, cinema was a constant source of inspiration for David Bowie. In addition to his acting credits in fantastic projects such as The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bowie’s music was deeply influenced by his favourite filmmakers.
Ranging from Latin American cinema to the surreal world of David Lynch, Bowie’s taste in cinema was definitely diverse. Alongside serious dramatic work, Bowie was also fascinated by the traditions of cinematic comedy and fell in love with the transgressive experiments conducted by the legendary Buster Keaton.
One of the greatest examples of Bowie’s relationship with the cinematic medium is his love for Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. Watching it was a hallucinatory experience for the music icon, and it resulted in the creation of one of his greatest songs, ‘Space Oddity’.
Another sci-fi film that had a profound impact on Bowie was Chris Marker’s 1962 gem La Jetée, a French New Wave masterpiece about the horrors of nuclear warfare. The innovative short film is primarily presented through still photographs, constructing a moving narrative about a man who travels to the past to save the future.
Bowie paid tribute to La Jetée, alongside Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville, Orson Welles’ The Trial, and Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, in his music video for ‘Jump They Say’. Directed by Mark Romanek, the video features Bowie as a paranoid businessman who is constantly suspicious of his colleagues.
During an interview with The Guardian, Romanek said: “Bowie and I shared an admiration for La Jetée, so we contrived to pay homage to it. The idea of making those iconic still images move seemed both exciting and somehow a little sacrilegious. I was deeply relieved to hear that Mr Marker was pleased and not offended by the gesture.”
In an excerpt released by Court-circuit, the connection between Bowie’s career and La Jetée is beautifully explored. While many fans still insist that Bowie came from another planet, the La Jetée connection explains how Bowie actually travelled through time instead of space – to save us from ourselves.
Watch the excerpt below.
