Chris Marker’s inspired film unspools the mysterious story of a man haunted by an image from his childhood whose meaning he would only truly comprehend later in life. As a young boy, he witnessed a man shot to death on the observation deck of the Orly Airport in Paris, just before the outbreak of World War III. Composed of black-and-white still photographs, La Jetée presents a dystopian future where scientists conduct experiments on prisoners involving travel through time. A narrator describes the man’s trips back to the past and the woman who waits for him there. The careful arrangement of stationary images, and the space left between them, allows viewers to create their own movement from frame to frame—the scenes we are left to imagine are as potent as those we see. The sound design also contributes to this sense of motion. Heartbeats and whispers induce a sense of unease, while an evocative score propels us through this daring work of science fiction.  ST