Film theory is a way to approach both the apparatuses and institutions of cinema in general and the particular features of individual films. Broadly speaking, critical theories are definable as overarching interpretive systems governed by established conceptual models. These conceptual models bring different aspects of cinema in general and particular films into focus; and cinema will accordingly look different when viewed from the different theoretical perspectives each model provides. Currently there are several new theoretical perspectives being brought to bear in the field of film studies. Here I will review the four most prominent contemporary theoretical perspectives to date: feminism, Marxism, deconstruction, and psychoanalysis. To illustrate the interpretive power of these perspectives for the task of practical film criticism, I have brought each model to bear on Chris Marker's La Jetée, an experimental film heavily accented by the kinds of theoretical issues I will be discussing, and therefore a film that readily lends itself to theoretically informed analysis. Marker's film thus stands as a kind of critical lightning rod, simultaneously calling down the thunder from each of the theoretical quarters I have mentioned. So without further ado, here are the four major schools of film theory as they are called to account for Chris Marker's challenging film.