La Jetée

La Jetée is a 30-minute visual novel about a man haunted by an image from his childhood. Told through 30 images, it follows his journey through a world devastated by nuclear war, where camp rulers use him in experiments to find an energy source that could save humanity. An autoplay feature is available.

A memory and a journey

The man’s memory is of a woman and the killing of a man at the jetty of Orly airport in Paris. In the underground camps, rulers use scientific methods in an effort to perpetuate life, while forcing humanity to give up what is beautiful. They send the man back and forth through time, using his memory to search for a source of energy.

During a journey into the past, he meets a woman and falls into a tragic love. After a series of events, he reaches the time and place of the image that has haunted him: he sees the face of a woman who represents love and life in a world without wars. Before he can meet her, a camp guard who followed him from the underground camp kills him.

The source film

La Jetée is based on Chris Marker’s 1962 French science-fiction short film, which inspired Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys.