15 Funniest Times Movies Broke The Fourth Wall

11. La Joli Mai

Ferris Bueller
Sofracima, Potemkine Films

From the French experimental filmmaker and documentarian Chris Marker, La Joli Mai is a travelogue through Paris near the end of the Algerian War. The freeform documentary is comprised of unscripted scenes, including many subjects being interviewed as they walk the streets of the city. Documentary films often break the fourth wall, but perhaps none do so in such a clever and unexpected way as in La Joli Mai.

One man is being interviewed, with the director Chris Marker speaking to him from off camera. The man seems pompous, discussing finances and his own sense of self-importance. While he's rambling, the camera operator notices a spider crawling on the man's jacket. Marker notices it too, but despite the spider skittering up and down frantically, the interview subject remains oblivious.

Instead of cutting, or pointing it out to the man, the lens fixates on the spider, completely ignoring the man's musings. Chris Marker, too, seems to be no longer interested in the man himself, but instead the arachnid on his jacket. When the man struggles to find a particular phrase to describe something, Marker interjects- "like a spider's web?" The man agrees, and continues, hopelessly unaware. It's a wonderful small moment where the filmmakers subtly acknowledge the unpredictable nature of the documentary medium.

Contributor
Contributor

Nick Fulton hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.