Whereas Zero for Conduct had a seemingly haphazard and just anarchic story that was meant to provoke, L'Atlante shows the true potential of Jean Vigo as a filmmaker, a career that was sadly cut short. This movie has extremely well developed characters and a setting that forces them to confront their own inner demons and inner human flaws in a highly naturalistic way. The movie obviously chooses a setting that is anything but ordinary, living on a moving boat, however the pacing of the scenes, the performances of the actors and the storyline itself are all very naturalistic. This film continues the french trajectory of movies that challenge social norms. In the same vein as Boudu saved from Drowning, this story challenges the established social conventions of the day and features characters who are true human beings in that they have flaws. The storytelling is fantastic and you can see the ability of sound to translate the character of an actor not necessarily the character to the audience. What you hear makes a huge difference in your level of investment in the humanity of this film and its during this time period that you see that. The french are laying the groundwork for cinema verité so to speak, even though the film itself is quite constructed and artificial. It feels like it could have easily been a far more naturalistic handheld verite movie if the technology of the time period allowed for that.
Again this film lays the groundwork for the French New Wave.