072 - Taris, 1931, France. Dir. Jean Vigo.

Monday, March 13, 2017

072 - Taris, 1931, France. Dir. Jean Vigo.

Quickly.  Name the swimming strokes.  Go!

While you are doing that, let me ask you this question.

Are you a swimmer?  Did you swim competitively?  As a child?  In high school?  College?  Pro?

Do you watch the Olympics?

Who are your favorite swimmers?

OK.  Now for the answers to the quiz.

Did you say freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly?

(Spell breaststroke.  It has st followed by st.  That is unusual.)

I know at least one of you said dog paddle.  Well . . .

Wrong!

The correct answers are the backstroke, the crawl, the over-arm, and the trudgen.

What?

That is according to our film, in 1931.

Times change.  Styles change.  Strokes change.  Different strokes for different blokes.

This is Taris.

No, I did not say Tardis, you Dr. Who fans.

Taris is a documentary short about a swimmer named Jean Taris.  In 1931 he was the French champion and holder of 23 records in all distances, from 100 to 1,500 meters.

It is actually entitled La Natation, or Swimming, but you know how those translators like to change things.

This film is a commercial commission.  Vigo was hired to make it.  Gaumont, the studio, wanted him to show the power of the swimmer.

So it is a sports documentary, and Vigo is the work-for-hire director.

What are some sports documentaries and shows we know today?

30 for 30.  A Football Life.  SEC Storied.  Pardon the Interruption.  Outside the Lines.  Around the Horn.

My kids are shouting, "C'mon, Man!"

Taris does not exactly have Kenny Mayne or Chris Berman or Scott Van Pelt from ESPN talking us through it.  Or John Facenda or Scott Graham from NFL Films.

It is not exactly Ken Burns' Baseball.

But it does have a voiceover.

Jean Vigo began working on it in November, 1930, doing research and meeting with Jean Taris.  He began shooting it in January, 1931.

He chose the athletic club because it contained underwater portholes, through which he could film underwater photography.

Yesterday's film, A Propos de Nice (1930) (071, March 12) was a silent film, though music has been added to the disc.

Today's film is Vigo's first attempt at a sound film.

In both yesterday's and today's film, Vigo celebrates the human body, both male and female.  He seeks to free the body from the social constraints of the time.

He focuses on the body's freedom, its power, and its potential.

After having Taris demonstrate each of the proper strokes of the time, Vigo has him play in the water, underwater, moving freely like a fish, having fun.  Playing.

In the end, through movie magic, Taris will pop on a suit and walk on water.

The sports star.