Vigo, Jean (zhäN vēgō`), 1905–34, French movie director, whose original name was Jean Almereyda. His reputation is based on two superb films: Zéro de Conduite (1933) and L'Atalante (1934, uncut release 1989). Zéro de Conduite is a surrealistic depiction of Vigo's years in boarding school and shows a poetic expressiveness and a marked feeling for the strange and unexpected. L'Atalante is a haunting evocation of life on a Paris river barge and in the city's river-front districts.

Bibliography

See biography by P. E. S. Gomes (1971); J. and H. Feldman, An Index to the Films of Jean Vigo (1976).

Vigo, Jean

(born April 26, 1905, Paris, France—died Oct. 5, 1934, Paris) French film director. The son of a militant anarchist who died in prison under suspect circumstances, he spent an unhappy childhood in boarding schools. His first film was the satiric social documentary À propos de Nice (1930). He explored the subject of freedom versus authority in his celebrated Zero for Conduct (1933), which was branded “anti-French” by the censors and withdrawn from theatres. His last film, L'Atalante (1934), tells the story of an unhappy marriage and is also regarded as a masterpiece. Vigo's films blend lyricism with realism and Surrealism and distinguished him as an original talent.