As a sci-fi fan, I keep coming back to La Jetée, the incredibly influential short film that actually inspired 12 Monkeys. Even though it was made over sixty years ago, and it’s barely under 30 minutes long, it’s still a landmark achievement in the genre. In fact, it feels shockingly modern, especially considering it came out four years before even the very first Star Trek! It’s a truly formative piece of sci-fi cinema and absolutely essential viewing.
If you’ve watched Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys, you’ll recognize the time loop storyline in La Jetée.
Gilliam’s movie builds significantly on the original short film, but it still centers around the same basic idea: a man travels back in time to stop a terrible future, but unintentionally ensures it happens.
“La Jetée,” The Precursor To “12 Monkeys,” Is Science Fiction’s Greatest Experimental Short Film
Directed By Chris Marker; Released In 1962
La Jetée is a French, black-and-white film, though it’s more accurately described as a short montage of still images with a narrated story. It’s not a mainstream blockbuster like the later film 12 Monkeys attempted to be, but it remains a must-see for serious film fans and science fiction enthusiasts.
A striking aspect of La Jetée is how powerfully its images resonate even today. The film features unforgettable scenes, like the ruins of Paris with a hazy, radioactive fog around the Eiffel Tower, and disturbing visions of the scientists working in their hidden lab.
The most striking aspect of La Jetée is its time travel story, which popularized the concept of a ‘casual loop’ – a narrative where events in the story create the conditions for themselves. In La Jetée, the main character becomes the victim of a traumatic childhood event because of his intense focus on remembering it.
“La Jetée” Was A Surprisingly Hopeful Dystopian Drama; That Hope Was The Biggest Thing “12 Monkey” Abandoned
Director Terry Gilliam Latched On To The Drama Of La Jetée
The film 12 Monkeys expands on the basic idea of the short film La Jetée, adding more detail to the original story and making it more complex. A key difference is that in La Jetée, the main character successfully improves the future, despite a sad ending for himself. 12 Monkeys, however, leaves the future’s outcome less certain.
The film La Jetée, made in the early 1960s, offers a hopeful vision of the future. In contrast, Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys from the 1990s presents a more pessimistic view of humanity, history, and the fate of Earth. If you enjoy 12 Monkeys and consider it a science fiction classic, watching La Jetée is a worthwhile look at its source material.
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2026-02-11 16:00