Jean, the owner of the barge "L'Atalante," marries Juliette. Though the erotic bond between the couple is strong, relations prove difficult. Eventually Juliette runs away. Jean searches for her, they are reunited. From this simple, almost banal story Jean Vigo fashioned what Marina Warner calls "one of the most tender and convincing love stories on film." L'Atalante was the last film in Vigo's tragically short career; he died of tuberculosis in 1934 soon after its completion. Though indifferently received at first, in the past sixty years L'Atalante has achieved almost legendary status. The release of the restored version in 1990 was a triumph. In this book, a model of how to write about cinema, Marina Warner shows that the greatness of the film is not in the story but in the manner of its telling. Vigo's extraordinary style—as fresh, original and beautiful today as in 1934—owes something to surrealism, but is uniquely his.