Completed by the 29-year-old genius, a true poet of the cinema, shortly before his premature death, this sublime masterpiece represents more than half his total oeuvre (the rest is constituted by the surreal documentary A propos de Nice and the anarchic fable of boarding-school life Zéro de conduite). Its simple tale focuses on the marital problems of a French bargee and his young provincial wife, and there's an unforgettable performance from Michel Simon as an eccentric seafarer. The glowing monochrome photography is the work of the Polish-born Boris Kaufman, who shot all Vigo's pictures. Later, as an independent cameraman in New York, he won an Oscar for On the Waterfront and lit 12 Angry Men.