Resnais. Alain Resnais may have been more influential than he is accomplished. I hope another study of his work proves me wrong. Resnais does not have a top 500 film of all-time and there are plenty of directors that do at this point so that’s a weakness. However, the level of authorship in his films certainly trumps someone like Robert Wise or like Leo McCarey and the 3 films that rank in the top 100 of their respective decade is a strength at this point this far down the list. I’ll get to it more below in stylistic traits and innovation but Resnais eschewed the conventional narrative and his films have an ethereal, surreal quality to them
Best film: Last Year at Marienbad. Jaw-dropping visuals are accompanied by a labyrinth of a narrative.
total archiveable films: 6
top 100 films: 0
top 500 films: 0
top 100 films of the decade: 3 (Last Year at Marienbad, Mon Oncle d’Amerique, Hiroshima Mon Amour)
most overrated: Resnais is ranked as the #32 director on the TSPDT page and I have him at #142 so this is one of the widest gulfs. So naturally there are a ton of over overrated films here. I’ll pick on Hiroshima mon amour– it currently sits at #110 at on consensus list and I do not have it anywhere near there- I’m at least 500 slows lower than that.
most underrated: Mon oncle d’Amerique throughout impressed me a decade ago when I was first able to catch it. I have it a couple hundred slots higher than spot there TSPDT has it (#899)
gem I want to spotlight : Providence. A stunner here below—it may be the closest Resnais ever came to the high-water mark of Marienbad visually.
stylistic innovations/traits: Resnais is the enigma that emerged in the French New Wave. The dream-like and bizarre (and this is a group that includes Godard) has been highly influential on Apichatpong Weerasethakul, David Lynch and everything and everyone connected to surrealism and memory. I also see Marienbad’s set piece perfectionism influence on everyone from Kubrick to Lanthimos.
top 10
- Last Year at Marienbad
- Mon Oncle d’Amerique
- Hiroshima Mon Amour
- Providence
- Muriel
- Life is a Bed of Roses
By year and grades
| 1959- Hiroshima Mon Amour | HR |
| 1961- Last Year at Marienbad | MS |
| 1963- Muriel | R |
| 1977- Providence | |
| 1980- Mon Oncle d’Amérique | MS |
| 1983- Life is Bed of Roses | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
@Drake- What are the new grades for Alain Resnais’ films?
@Malith- Sorry- not ignoring this- I just don’t have this ready
Are there any other films like Providence (1977)?
I’m absolutely mesmerized by the concept/gimmick. It’s just great. Someone is writing a novel & constantly manipulating his characters (who are part of the film) to fit his agenda. Then at the end the characters are quite a bit different than what he imagined. Also hard to imagine better casting than Gielgud & Bogarde. Gielgud has such a command of English being a great shakespearean actor (his dialogue/narration here is wicked as hell) and Bogarde is easy to criticize for his ridiculous pompous, diva like behaviour. Such a great duo. They have a Brando/Pacino in The Godfather like scene at the very end of the film. Also it’s crazy than Bogarde can do more or less completely internal in something like Accident and then here very extreme (never shuts up).
There’s a similar concept going on in Rohmer’s Claire’s Knee, although I thought the execution was a bit obnoxious and masturbatory.
@Vaanilla-Thanks. I will check it out.
@Drake – thank you, appreciate very much
@Malith – Bogarde is great in every performance I have seen, I just rank some of the others ahead, it is no insult to his performance here.
Not sure on next yet. I do want to get to Fassbinder in near future but want to switch it up after covering a number of european art house masters. Leaning toward De Palma
@James Trapp- fully endorse the De Palma study if that’s the direction you go
@Drake – I think it is, I have wanted to do a full on De Palma Study for a while so that is the next move
@James Trapp- awesome- I can’t wait to read along
@James Trapp-I had Bogarde’s performance in Providence ranked as his 5th best behind The Servant, Death in Venice, Despair and The Night Porter but ahead of The Damned. Resnais is a great director of course but I felt like after the settings are established both Gielgud and especially Bogarde had to carry the film on their back with their performances.
The writing in the imaginary world gets weaker and weaker as the film progresses. This is a very wicked Bogarde performance. And I felt like a great role for him even though Gielgud probably had the meatier role. Burstyn gets blown off the screen multiple times in her scenes with Bogarde I thought.
What are you doing next? A Fassbinder study? He has a lot of great films and the above mentioned Despair with Bogarde of course.
Alain Resnais Study Summary:
Resnais seems to be as fascinated by memory as Nolan is with time; of course, memory and time are related. Resnais explores memory and various aspects of human behavior in a variety of ways. His best film in my opinion is set around a man attempting to convince a woman that they had met at a location the prior year and started a relationship. The science fiction film Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968) is set around a depressed man transported to various moments from his past. Night and Fog (1955) is an amazing documentary in which photographs Nazi prison camps 10 years after the end of WW2.
There is a meta aspect to this as well since some of the characters in these films discuss the concept of memory almost as both a philosophical discussion. For example, in Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) the French woman discusses a dilemma as she is torn between moving on with her life and honoring the deceased German soldier she once loved by constantly remembering him. If she forgot him is that a betrayal?
Alain Resnais career took off during the French New Wave, but his name is not usually associated with The French New Wave nearly as much as some of his contemporaries. Obviously directors and films in general do not always fall neatly into categories, whether we are talking about film movements, genres, film styles, etc. Interestingly he started off his career as a documentary filmmaker before transitioning into a master of Cinematic Puzzles (if that is not already a phrase I am going to copyright it). Hiroshima Mon Amour and Mon Oncle d’Amérique (1980) both start off looking like documentaries before slowly morphing into something else
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) and Last Year at Marienbad (1961) are the two bests of the study with Last Year at Marienbad being # 1. It is a film that succeeds at every level and has infinite rewatch value as it invites so many different interpretations and viewpoints. The photography and editing in Hiroshima is especially great. Both of these films are gorgeous albeit in different ways. None of the other films come close to these two in terms of beautiful visuals
My American Uncle may be the strangest set up, but it works as a brilliant study on human behavior and motivations. The premise almost sounds like a gimmick, yet it somehow works, will definitely need to revisit in the future
Stavisky and Muriel were clearly his two weakest films in my opinion though I still think they are worthy films to watch. Stavisky is a bit of a fish out of water as it plays like a straight period piece
Final Ranking and Grades:
# 1 Last Year at Marienbad (1961) – MP
# 2 Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) – MP
# 3 Night and Fog (1955) – MS
# 4 Mon Oncle d’Amérique (1980) – MS/HR
# 5 Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968) – HR/MS
# 6 Providence (1977) – HR
# 7 Stavisky (1974) – R
# 8 Muriel (1963) – R
@James Trapp – Congratulations – you are making quite a dent here in the best directors and work in cinema history!
Mon Oncle d’Amérique (1980)
Notes:
Starts with moving spotlight on collage of photographs with inaudible voices off screen
3:42 The narrator is revealed to be a real life French surgeon, neurobiologist, writer and philosopher named Henri Laborit, who is playing himself. He speaks in a documentary voice about how the human brain functions
4:35 tracking shot of turtle and then cut to a reptile
5:15 series of photographs coupled with narrator explain their significance
6:40 a female narrator and another series of photographs, some in black and white and others in color
7 min narrator explains the biographies of three fictional characters
8:27 legendary French actor Jean Gabin reference
10:14 shot of land surrounded by water and in upper left of frame there is an oval shaped box with a man in a medium close up speaking as a narrator of sorts
15:13 man in rowboat in foreground with the previously shown island in the background
22:17 multi-narrator style limits dialogue even at dinner table scene
22:57 cutaway to an older black and white film with characters actions of screen matching each other
27:09 high angle shot of play rehearsal
29:39 cutaway shot of character in an older black and white film
30:48 same angle and distance as shot from the rehearsal at 27:09 only now there is audience
38:44 deep focus on couple fighting before children insert themselves into the frame, followed by the husband leaving and another cutaway shot to black and white film
42:42 shot of a photograph of the island shown earlier
43:18 flash frame of black and white film
48:21 quick cut from suggestion of cooking to food brought to dinner table
52:42 flash image of Jean Gabin
55:09 brief cutaway to Eiffel Tower
1:07:50 the couples fight plays out in amusing way as she asks to be locked in the room and even hands him a key to lock herself in since she views that as the most logical outcome of what he would do
1:09:26 jump ahead 2 years, with shot of man rowing to the Island
1:11:10 parallel editing showing the rat and man in action
1:12:54 surreal imagery with the person wearing a large rat head over their head
1:21:16 montage of parents teaching children how to act in order to conform to their society
1:29:34 parallel edits with human and rat
1:31:24 montage of aggression
1:32:03 nice framing with this two shot of couple positioned in frame in a way that emphasizes dissonance
1:40:50 amusing sequence involving an accidental bump leading to a man demanding an apology
1:47:27 man and woman stand next to each other with door open, staring at each other silently before woman touches mans hand and pulls him toward her room leading to them sleeping together
1:57:13 cut to a boar followed by group of men hunting
2:01:01 another great parallel editing sequence
Ends by showing the collage from the beginning and shortly after a strange frame where a forest area is placed off a brick building, strange ending is fitting
Thoughts:
It is getting increasingly rare that I come across a film that is so different from any other that I have seen, but this is probably one of them. I am not saying there has never been another film like this, just that I have yet to see it. The basic set up has the real life French surgeon, neurobiologist, writer and philosopher named Henri Laborit; he plays himself as narrator and 3 fictional characters with intersecting plot lines which demonstrate the aspects of human behavior that Laborit discusses. I wonder if you could even call the film a film essay to a certain degree. Resnais Intersperses images of famous French actors/actresses throughout the film at crucial moments in the lives of the characters
The comparisons of humans to rats and the parallel editing is brilliant. And really the editing in general is amazing here as it is used to demonstrate the various aspects of human behavior discussed by Laborit. On paper the film sounds like a complete mess of ideas, yet it somehow works, and the editing is crucial to this
This is genuinely one of the most thought provoking films that I have seen. There are films that examine the concept of fate vs free will but here it is shown almost as an experiment, which makes the rat motif so effective. I am still on the fence about the rat costume surrealism element, I don’t necessarily not like it, just need to think about it a little more perhaps another viewing in the future will gives me a clearer opinion.
Even though the films form and editing are the two most crucial cinematic elements, the performances are important as well as I was invested into the lives of these characters and cared about. The film is a little lighter than his previous work, it does not have many laugh out loud moments but
Verdict: MS/HR
Providence (1977)
Notes:
No Notes due to having to watch on by PC making note taking difficult
Thoughts:
Alain Resnais first English language film is quite fascinating and creative and in Resnais fashion finds an interesting way to examine memory. Here we have the story of a dying man on his 78th birthday and whose dreams consist of his children as characters within his dream. We later discover that his children are actually very different than they are initially presented in the dream world
The brighter colors including more orange hues in the last on 20-30 minutes matches a clear mood shift during an idyllic picnic celebrating the father’s 78th birthday
This film seems to touch on not only memory but perception. What we see in the 80-90 minutes is an interpretation of characters filtered through the mind of John Gielgud’s character Clive, an aging writer in poor health
The film also blurs the line of fiction vs reality
Dirk Bogarde is solid but would not say one of his best performances
Verdict: HR
Providence is available to watch here on rarefilmm.
https://rarefilmm.com/2017/12/providence-1977/
@Malith – thanks, I plan on watching this and My American Uncle (1980) to finish up Resnais
@James Trapp-Not watching Private Fears in Public Places(2006)? It is rated R/HR here if I’m not wrong.
Malith – I was not aware of that film, I may check it out if I can find it. Some of his films are difficult to track down
Stavisky (1974)
Notes:
Starts in
3:13 binocular POV of boat
3:58 granted asylum by France
5 min Jean-Paul Belmondo as the lead character Alexandre Stavisky
5:27 nice interiors and frame in frame in hotel
12:20 tracking shot along exterior of ground floor hotel capturing its beauty with symmetrical frames
15:32 binocular POV
21:36 flashback of Alex’s arrest shown in almost comical fashion as a woman faints and knocks over red wine set to a dramatic music
31:46 high angle shot with spotlight on actress performing on stage
38 min immaculate living spaces
39:03 fast tempo score indicating suspense and danger
40:20 a slow zoom out which I have not seen from Resnais much so far in this study
43:51 distorted image from vehicle mirror
45:36 white flowers scattered throughout the frame as Alexandre shows off his romantic side
50:27 strange music choices that seem out of place
53:11 impressive shot of Alexandre and his group at high end restaurant, with red lit and otherwise dark room following a shot of Arlette surrounded by complete black
1:01:45 slow pan up showing sign for location., I have seen this in other Resnais films
1:05:11 split frame as Alexandre is shown in two reflections from mirrors
1:09:40 cutaway shot of jewels
1:11:25 another distorted car mirror shot
1:21:35 newspaper as narrative device
1:32:30 nice blocking in this wide angle shot at
1:35:08 another strange musical choice
1:38:48 again with red flowers
1:48:20 gunshot off screen followed by newspaper indicating Stavisky’s death
The film ends with a brief pan over Stavisky’s dead body
Thoughts
Resnais film about Alexandre Stavisky and the “Stavisky affair” with Jean-Paul Belmondo as the lead character Alexandre Stavisky, a real life French financier and embezzler. Anny Duperey plays his wife Arlette Stavisky. The narrative is relatively straight forward as the film covers a period of several months in the life of a real life French financier and embezzler. He has several interests and is amongst other things an impresario
Red and white seem to dominate much of the mise en scene, especially red with shots of interiors like the hotel lobby, flowers, carpets
Belmondo is excellent here. I actually thought much more of him than I thought of the film. He is charismatic and commanding at all times. He even wears the Vito Corleone tuxedo and red rose, all that is missing is the cat
No offense to Resnais and even with this being a French not Italian film, this would have been a much better suited for either of the two directors I most recently covered; that is Bernardo Bertolucci and Luchino Visconti
Verdict: R
@James Trapp-Didn’t know Belmondo worked with Resnais.
@Malith – he is quite good in this, as his natural charisma is perfect for this role. The film is a more straight forward period piece and much of takes place in luxury hotels, clubs, etc. which is why I think Bertolucci or Visconti would be perfect for it
@James Trapp-Tbh, I don’t know much about Belmondo’s oeuvre since the 1960’s. So it’s nice to still see him work with auteurs. Yeah. I’m not the biggest expert on Resnais and only seen Providence from him. Visconti would be excellent for the description you provided. But not overly sure about Bertolucci. I think he is a very flawed filmmaker. The Conformist is perfect of course but in the other films I have seen from him(Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Spider’s Stratagem, The Dreamers), I am shaking my head with some of the decisions he is making. But still his highs are very high.
@Malith – Borsalino (1970) is a film with Belmondo and Alain Delon playing the leads. The film was directed by Jacques Deray, I have not seen any of his work and do not know if he is considered an auteur but it does appear Belmondo worked with him again for a 1987 French film Le Solitaire
On Deray, he also directed La Piscine (Swimming Pool) with Delon, Schneider, Ronet and Birkin which is worth seeking out and Flic Story with Delon and Trintignant.
@LeRoi – I have seen La Piscine, did not realize that was DeRay. It is solid with similar dynamic between Delon and Ronet characters from Purple Noon
–
Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968)
Notes:
Starts with haunting music and shot of hospital glass window
2:40 shot of hallway with blue/white/silver create a cold, melancholic atmosphere fitting to the story which starts following a man named Claude leaving the hospital after a suicide attempt
6:56 reverse tracking shot of car followed by use of jump cuts from hospital to secretive location which is a research facility
7:08 the use of blue continues with blue tint in shot of the front windshield of the car traveling from the hospital
8:06 spiritual, haunting score
10:55 Claude and man at facility walking through the narrow corridor of the research facility
11:45 Claude is presented with an opportunity to take part in an experiment involving time travel, some nice blocking with the scientists crowded around a lab table
15:20 another flash of blue light in the Time Travel Room which consists of a strange object that is honestly difficult to describe as it is usually shaped but the inside of it essentially functions as a time travel machine
18:40 Claude sits on object that almost looks like it could be a couch that he sort of sinks into before he starts seeing images
18:53 flash frame of mouse disappearing
19:06 flash frames of water intercut with longer shots of Claude swimming underwater while wearing scuba gear
20 min for several minutes there are a repetition of shots of Claude laying in experiment tent are shown in addition to Claude swimming with scuba gear, speaking to a woman on a beach. Some of the lines are repeated near word for word
30:06 Claude bored working an office job surrounded by papers
31:58 shot moves from Claude in office to a shot of Claude lying on beach in foreground of frame next to his girlfriend
36:31 two-shot of Claude in bed with his girlfriend, he seems happier here than any prior scene
36:52 jump from in bed with girlfriend to alone in the ocean water and back to inside the experiment tent which has more desaturated color
49:04 Claude starts to panic not knowing how much time has passed
55:01 Claude isolated in foreground from colleagues in background
56:39 images more surreal with attractive woman in bathtub in middle of office
1:03:24 shot on fishing pier, water seems essential to much of the story
1:08:07 woman in Claude’s bed is cut to a different woman
1:09:37 blue and white in mise en scene
1:09:53 symmetrical image with frame in frames with Claude in middle and same woman on both sides
1:14:41 strange image of man holding payphone underwater
1:15:05 the same woman is shown again
1:23:17 Claude confesses to an off screen voice that he killed his girlfriend, the camera holds a medium close up for over a minute, which is one of the few times in the film
1:29:09 death repetition including flash frames followed by the scientists/researchers declaring “we’ll never get him”
Thoughts
While this is not a MP it is a big set up from Muriel (1963) which I found underwhelming both visually and narratively although I thought the acting was solid
Resnais with another film focusing on memory. At this point I think it is fair to say that Resnais is as obsessed with memory as Christopher Nolan is with time. And similar to his prior films in this Study there is a meta nature of these themes. Claude and the other characters talk about memory
While the film involves time travel it is not really used in the more mainstream sci-fi way where it is used for the purpose of plot. According to one reviewer this was an influence on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). I actually remember reading about that when I watched Eternal Sunshine about two years ago and the similarities are undeniable. I also was reminded of Tarkovsky’s Mirror (1975) with the stream of conscious style narrative. And similar to Mirror some of the past events shown were mundane
There are a lot of quick cuts during the initial time travel scenes and again toward the end of the film including Claude’s suicide using a gun which resulted in him dying quickly throughout his past which I thought was brilliant as it shows the suicide was a result of numerous moments in his life. Yes, there was one moment when he actually pulled the trigger but how he got to that final decision was a consequence of a lifetime of moments that ultimately led to that ultimate decision
The present used more close ups while the shots from the past timeline used more medium and long shots than the present. The past also used more shots with Claude in the foreground and tangential characters like co-workers in an office that are not interacting with Claude
Blue is used throughout the film creating a cold, melancholic atmosphere fitting to the story which starts following a man named Claude leaving the hospital after a suicide attempt. The blue tinted frames reminded me of Jean Pierre Melville, especially his later works. The inside of the experiment tent/time machine is desaturated using beige/browns
I think this is a film that will reward multiple viewings. But even after one viewing it is an impressive film with brilliance in the narrative and impressive editing. It does not have shot of breathtaking beauty like his two MP but is an improvement from Muriel
Verdict: HR/MS
Muriel (1963)
Notes:
Starts off with a close up on a hand with a leather glove and arm in fur coat opening a door followed by a jump cuts of door handles, tea kettle, clock, table chair, woman smoking cigarette, amongst other images
This is set in 1962 set in the northern French coastal city of Boulogne-Sur-Mer
Delphine Seyrig plays Hélène Aughain as a widowed antique dealer, about 40 years old,
Jean-Baptiste Thierrée plays Bernard, Hélène’s stepson, recently home from Algerian War
7:26 woman standing in front of mirror inside café
8:40 jump cut showing various images of the town
9:52 nice use of neon lights and silhouette as the trio walks through the city at night
10:30 nice use of frame in frames followed by montage of memorial imagery of the city
18:36 plate with full cake placed on the table followed by repeated shot of cake placed on table with only small portion remaining
24:52 doorway used to frame shot with characters spaced diagonally opposites in frame making background/foreground work more noticeable
28:06 reflection in window creates an amazing foreground/background shot as an outline of Hélène’s reflection is visible in the background, this frame also includes a table clock in the foreground
30:28 great use of framing as the two characters in this shot are in a triangle within the larger frame in the far right side of the frame
40:18 close up on Bernard’s face with soft focus surrounding him as he seems deep in thought
42:43 Colorful movie poster for Femmes du bout du monde (1938). I like the use of Purple, yellow, and red here. This poster is of a 1938 French film directed by Jean Epstein
48:30 different memories of how events played out in the past as Hélène challenges Alphones memory
49:32 beautiful wide angle shot of the coastal city which could be postcard image
50:40 shot similar to one from an earlier montage
51:30 series of pans over photographs of earlier images in the film
1:02:52 green and white mise en scene reminds me of Ozu
1:08:12 another great frame in frame using doors of restaurant called “Brasserie Alsacienne”
1:18:16 shot of Casino exterior at night with another strong use of multiple
1:18:35 close up on top of phone with soft focus surrounding
1:26:28 impressive shot of the city that could be used for a postcard, I love it captures multiple elevations as you have road going up hill and another going down hill with a building in between while you have characters walking in all different directions
1:26:37 checkered ceiling creates pattered shadow during bright day
1:33:08 symmetrical shot of the front of hotel. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) had this only way more it was way more impressive
1:44:53 cutaway shot of building from a low angle
Ends with lack of closure
Thoughts
Resnais continues his fascination with time and memory. This is set in 1962 and focuses on a two week period set in the northern French coastal city of Boulogne-Sur-Mer. Through the film you have characters disagreeing over memories with no clear answers as to who is correct
Boulogne-Sur-Mer can be interpreted as location as character, the film is both set and shot there, the town had incurred significant damage and thus required much time and money to rebuild
Some of the images with the frame in frames reminded me of late Ozu films, perhaps I should be looking to do an Ozu Study in near future. Resnais even uses a sort of variation of Ozu pillow shots
Following two clear MP level films this one is going to wilt by comparison. Even so, it continues some of the thematic elements of those films even though the visuals are not even close to the same level. The performances are solid all around as well
Verdict: R
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Notes:
Delphine Seyrig plays character known as the woman
Giorgio Albertazzi plays the character known as the man, he believes he met the woman one year before in the same location
Sacha Pitoëff plays character known as the 2nd man, who may be the woman’s husband
Starts with the camera tilted toward the ceiling as it glides along with narrator
4:28 gorgeous religious imagery as lines from the narrator are repeated verbatim
6:15 slow tracking shot through corridors
7:20 camera gliding through room full of well dressed people sitting silently inside hotel
8:41 first line of dialogue from character (other than narrator)
9:05 camera gliding through audience of what is soon revealed to be a play within the film, the audience well dressed, elegant people
10:24 wide angle shot of the performers bowing following the completion of the play
11:06 good looking characters scattered throughout the room
11:24 a haunting score bumps
11:51 mirror splitting frame
12:13 beautiful symmetrical shot and use of silhouette
12:20 incredible composition using mirror and deep focus to capture the characters in two different depths of field on the right side of the frame
13:23 intensity of score increases in this reverse tracking shot as two men walk through doorway
14:18 frame in frames and deep focus
14:34 montage of symmetrical shots inside the hotel, in particular empty corridors
16:08 characters in a trance
17:43 splitting frame with characters staring off in opposite directions
18:20 two men playing checkers in foreground, while multiple layers of depth in midgrounds and the background have checkered floors, again perfect symmetry and a multitude of frames
18:34 gorgeous high angle shot capturing the woman standing in hall
27:09 one of the famous courtyard shots showing incredible depth of field
28:14 slow pan around courtyard statues
30:20 another male inserts himself into the man and woman’s conversation creating triangle composition
31:14 the woman walks through room of people who are frozen like statues, not moving or looking like they are even alive
34:28 another courtyard shot, this time a group of people are standing in the foreground
35:43 gorgeous shots of slow dancing in silhouette on the ballroom floor
37:02 shot of ballroom with characters make L shape on the perimeter of ballroom room
37:18 slow zoom in on 2 characters in background near the bar
38:14 rapid cutaway shot of the woman in an all-white room by herself before returning to the present day timeline on the dark ballroom
39:45 overhead shot with characters scattered throughout the frame
41:14 the eerie music perfect match for the strange, almost secretive environment
42:33 another composition using a mirror to capture the character in the background of the frame
45:20 the most famous shot of the film, the courtyard shot
46:46 nice background/foreground work and blocking
51:00 a rare close up two-shot
51:29 great depth of field work with this two-shot
54:56 triangle composition maintained until the possible husband walks out of the room
56:32 slow zoom in on woman in front of mirror producing 3 iamges
1:00:34 courtyard shot but with blast of white light and intense piano keys
1:03:54 pan up and shot of courtyard from a different angle
1:05:54 shot of courtyard through high angle shot from interior of house and through window creating multiple frame in frames
1:14:41 act of violence that is possible imagination
1:17:54 cutaway shot to the woman wearing all white as she finds scattered photographs
1:19:09 the man and the possible husband compete in sort of card game, with spectators who disappear
1:20:45 over the shoulder silhouette image of the man walking toward the woman wearing all white
1:21:44 rapid edits of man walking into arms of woman wearing white
1:25:10 dark shadow covers characters
1:27:07 triangle composition of the woman
1:33:46 silhouette outline of estate with a couple of lights on which go off ending the film
Thoughts
If I watched this 100 times I am not sure I could fully understand it and perhaps that is the point. Watching this film is mind-bending experience. The strange atmosphere, imagery, and haunting music remind me of David Lynch, especially his later work. That incredible set piece has some similarities to The Shining (1980) as that is another film where memory is an essential component, and more specifically a character pondering déjà vu in regard to whether he had been in that particular location before. Although here the filming was actually done at multiple locations; this was by design as it further emphasized the subtle differences of events that initially seem like repetitions. Another horror film that I was reminded of is Carnival of Souls (1962) which was released the following year in 1962. In particular the organ based score and eerie atmosphere of what I considered to be a hidden gem of a horror film
This film contains an incredible set piece, though as previously mentioned it is actually filmed in multiple locations, none of which are the real Marienbad, which is described as a European resort town. The hotel has incredible décor with marble, ornate ceilings, huge mirrors, paintings, and long corridors. The grounds have shrubbery that has been carved into geometric shapes and patterns in addition to pools, waterfalls, and hedges in the courtyard. The tracking shots through the long corridors seems like a possible influence on Stanley Kubrick and those Steadicam shots
The compositions are so great I had to pause so many times I ended up watching 2 times in a row with the 2nd just watching after the note taking. The compositions have immaculate symmetry, depth of field, various patterns, characters positioned in ways that make no sense to conventional storytelling. In the film’s most famous shot which occurs at 45:20 there are characters scattered through the center foreground and midground. Some of the characters in this frame are standing in rigid positions with their arms on each side like they are posing for a photograph, and they are facing different directions. This may be one of the best single frames in Cinema History, it is as mysterious and confounding as it is beautiful
The music intensity increases in numerous shots while some of the characters look like they are in a trance. There are shots with characters seemingly frozen with the two leads the only characters who seem conscious
Another film that focuses on the concept of memory. Here you have a man who tries to convince a beautiful woman that they met the previous year at the same hotel, yet the woman claims to not remember. That is the basic narrative set up and from there the film explores the nature of memory and time. It is unclear as to what we are supposed to conclude from this as the film seems to ask more questions than it answers
Delphine Seyrig is perfect as the unnamed woman. She has an incredible elegance to her that fits into the film’s world
The interior shots, frame in frames, and shots of the courtyard all contain incredible precision. The mirrors are effective choice for a motif as they can symbolize self-reflection as well as blur what is real vs what is not
I think this pairs nicely with Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) with the thematic and visual similarities. There certainly are significant differences as well. Hiroshima Mon Amour examined the relationship between an individual within the context of a larger group; in particular it examined the concept of collective memory as the lead characters were from different countries with recent histories that impacted the way they related to one another. The French woman despite her work on the documentary could never really understand the suffering that took place in Hiroshima. In Last Year at Marienbad, the lead characters’ capacity in relating to one another was not constrained in the same way. There are many interpretations, but I think there is a broader statement being made about perception vs reality and human’s tendency to try to force their perceptions on others. Perhaps the man is aware that he is attempting a manipulation, perhaps he has convinced himself that of a false reality and has become fully delusional
Verdict: MP
@James Trapp- marvelous work here James – love the dedication here “The compositions are so great I had to pause so many times I ended up watching 2 times in a row with the 2nd just watching after the note taking.”
@Drake – thank you, funny enough it was just announced a few days ago that the film is getting a 4K release in August. This was after I had started the Study so funny timing.
Have you seen his 1968 film Je taime Je taime? I saw I asked you about it about 2 years ago after I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Notes:
Starts with close up of man and woman holding each other naked covered in ash and dust followed by sweat dripping on their bodies, all this with jazz music playing in background
Shortly after we hear voice over narration with Emmanuelle Riva playing a French woman and Eiji Okada playing a Japanese man. Given that we are not told their names, they can be referenced as she and he
4:12 tracking shot through hall of Hospital
4:50 montage of shots around the Hiroshima
5:33 aerial shot of the city revealed as exhibit in Museum
7:36 horrific images of aftermath of Atomic Bomb
14:02 series of dissolves showing consequences on the physical environment from the bomb’s impact
14:52 tracking shot through the city from POV of driver which is filled with cars and bicycles
15:18 more tracking shots through the city
16:03 first time we see the 2 main characters: a Japanese man and French woman
17:55 dissolve to close up
19:32 shot reverse shot showing the lovers in series of shots in which they are isolated in the frame
22:10 nice background/foreground work
22:36 great blocking
27:37 nice use of frame in frames with this shot in front of “Hotel New Hiroshima”
29:37 two-shot using close ups
33:22 camera set low angle and held as anti-nuclear protesters carry signs walk into frame, this is part of the film within the film that she is working on
38:32 the lovers both confess to be married
40:04 She is shown in a flashback to her hometown of Nevers, France
40:50 overhead shot of Elle riding bike followed by dissolve
41:37 dissolve from Elle in France to her and Lui holding each other
43:38 he attempts to understand the mindset of the German soldier she tells him about
43:44 close up on Elle whose face is partially covered by shadow
44:44 flute playing during montage of images that are calm, like a pond with its tranquil water
49:00 she was treated as a traitor for sleeping with a German soldier during the war
51:31 slow zoom out from shot of couple sitting in the hotel bar with images of city lights in background
52:02 beautiful use of deep focus and characters in multiple depths of field
55:06 two-shot with light on Elle only as she tells him about her life
58:58 shadow over her and flickering light as she talks about her first love being shot and killed
1:01:54 out of focus shot of Elle with two people in background
1:06:04 beautiful shot of Hiroshima lit up at night through Tea Room windows
1:06:56 shot from outside Hotel looking into the Tea Room
1:08:08 Bergmanesque two-shot of the lovers in profile taking up most of the frame as they are shown in different depths of field
1:12:26 back and forth conversation between herself and her internal voice while in front of mirror
1:12:42 low angle shot of multiple floors of hotel and her walking down in stairs in top left of frame
1:13:53 overhead two shot with the increasingly emotional Elle sitting on the ground
1:16:12 amazing editing with this sequence where the camera captures Hiroshima at night and Nevers by day and blends the two using the same tilted camera angle while going back and forth between these two locations creating a blend
1:18:38 shot of Elle in front of Tea Room sign at night, I love the detailed mise en scene here and use of frame in frames
1:21:46 stark imagery of Nevers as she seems to make peace with her memories
1:23:12 slow pan from French woman to the older Japanese woman sitting in between the lovers and to the Japanese man who briefly speaks with the older woman before a rapid pan showing an empty seat where the French woman was sitting
1:24:21 neon sign for “Casablanca Club”
1:25:05 Japanese man shown
1:26:14 frame in frames with vertical bar confining him in a tight space in right foreground of frame as he watches her sitting in left midground as another Japanese man stands over her trying to pick her up. Brilliant scene as we never actually see the initial meeting between him and her, but this scene shows how it probably played out
1:27:45 flute music playing again during this high angle shot showing the lovers deep in the background and showing light entering through windows indicating the night is now over
1:28:09 slow tilt up resembling shot near opening
1:28:20 haunting shot with smoke about building that could resemble atomic bomb aftermath
The film ends as they use their respective cities as their names, Hiroshima for him and Nevers for her
Thoughts
This is one of the first French Films I watched when I started getting serious about Cinema again and it was stunning to watch the first time and was again on my 2nd viewing
The first 16 minutes play out like a documentary on the devastating impact of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 by the United States. These first 16 minutes seem like a continuation of the horrific images from Night and Fog (1955) and then Resnais switches up and turns the film into a romantic drama based on a chance encounter not unlike Visconti’s La Notti Bianchi (1957). The two characters separated or prevented from being together due to exterior forces is not unlike In the Mood for Love (2000) or Lost in Translation (2003) although in this film the characters do sleep together but are nevertheless unable to extent relationship beyond a few days as they both have families
The film is fascinating from a formal standpoint using the two main characters as representing cities as their actual names are never revealed. While using flashbacks was nothing new when this was released, it is the way they are used that is brilliant. The flashbacks are not really used for plot but instead they are used for evocation and the way people deal with grief. There is a meta aspect here as the characters speak on the nature of memories. The French woman is aware and speaks of these past memories as her attempts to forget trigger a sort of survivor’s guilt. She is afraid of forgetting these tragic memories as she believes to forget is a sort of betrayal to the man she loved
The editing really stands out. The blending of Hiroshima with Nevers scene is amazing. The film uses many dissolves and moves between timelines. There are a number of montages with the early montages showing the horrors of the aftermath of the atomic bomb
Close ups and two-shots are used frequently conveying the intense emotions from this short love affair, I love the Bergman style double profile shot at 1:08:08. The close ups used in the opening shot is also incredible as the lovers’ bodies are covered with dust and ash before water washes over them, the intensity of how they wrap their bodies around each other foreshadows the intensity of the relationship
There is a brilliant sequence at 1:26:14 showing another Japanese man trying to pick up the French woman while he watches on. It is Brilliant because as we never actually see the initial meeting between him and her, but this scene shows how it probably played out as the framing shows him confined into a tight corner in the right foreground. It is not exactly the same, but I thought about the scene in In the Mood for Love (2000) when the two main characters tried to imagine how their spouse’s affair started by acting them out
I love the use of Casablanca as the name of the night club as it is an obvious cinematic reference of one of the most beloved films of all time but also a film about lovers who had an intense relationship that ended quickly despite them wanting it to go on if it not for external forces preventing it
Identity and nationality are other key themes as the French woman is making a documentary in Hiroshima. She visits the city and walks through museums, hospitals, and other locations in an attempt to understand the experiences of those from Hiroshima, however none of this is a substitute for the experience of actually being there or having loved ones killed by the bomb. The lovers call each other by their cities and do not learn each other’s actual name
The music of the film is really interesting to me. The music is quite upbeat much of the time. The score does not attempt to manipulate the viewer even in showing some of the most disturbing shots. I love the water sounds in several scenes such as when she has her head tilted in the sink. The sounds of water flowing really stand out because of the silence around it. The silences in the film are powerful in themselves. Italian composer Giovanni Fusco uses a combination of piano, piccolo, flute, clarinet, horn, viola, double bass, and guitar; I really love the use of flutes. Interesting how popular jazz was with French directors of that time. I noticed this during my Studies of Jean Pierre Melville and Francois Truffaut as well as a number of Godard’s films, and of course Elevator to the Gallows (1958) which had Mile Davis doing the soundtrack
Verdict: MP
Night and Fog (1955 film)
Notes:
Starts in color with shot of landscape and sky in background of the frame followed by camera panning down showing barbed wire fence in foreground and surrounding landscape of present day (at this time 1955) Auschwitz
3:25 camera panning over outside of prison camp with narrator informing viewer of the names of Nazi run concentration camps during WWII
4:08 change to black and white historical footage of Adolph Hitler
5 min narrator explains history of Nazi Germany’s building of Concentration Camps
8:38 night and fog title reference
8:42 brief return to color
11:17 slow pan through empty hall
12:05 moon visible in background
13:44 stills showing starving prisoners
14:02 “To lie down somewhere at last and have one’s death to oneself”
15:39 shot of surrounding villages with barbed wire fence in the foreground
16:30 casualness of the violence illustrated
18:30 stills of starving men
20:17 pages and pages of booklet flipped through with the pages serving as sign in sheet for entering prisoners
23:06 smokes scattering across frame upon train entering
23:26 stills capturing people in their last moments
23:56 ‘nothing distinguished the gas chamber from an ordinary block”
24:48 pan over scratches in ceiling
25:14 montage of starved bodies
26:37 montage of piles in warehouses including shoes and hair
28:40 sweeping ariel shot over camps
29:20 bodies plowed over by bulldozers
30:57 montage of starved bodies
31:38 return to color and present
Thoughts
I normally don’t include documentaries for these Director Studies with the exception of the Werner Herzog Study. And with Herzog I watched several documentaries and made two separate lists: one list ranking his fictional films and the other his documentaries. This is a one off as the rest of the films in the study are fictional films. So, I am making a rare exception largely because of the level of acclaim (it ranks # 262 on TSPDT) in addition to it being Alain Resnais first film.
This is an exceptionally powerful film made 10 years following the end of World War II. Resnais captures the horrors of Nazi run concentration camps in a dense 32 minutes. The images and narration show and describe unfathomable evil, horror, and cruelty. While the runtime makes it closer to a documentary short, Resnais accomplishes what he needs to in 32 minutes. Apparently Resnais had nightmares during the filming. The films images are shocking without any type of viewer manipulation needed to increase the impact
Resnais uses a combination color and black and white footage as well as black and white stills. There is voice over narration describing the vicious brutality of the violence as well as the daily humiliations and suffering the prisoners were put through including sadistic experimentations. The present day scenes (as of this film’s release in 1955) are eerie with a deafening silence
While there are images of dead bodies and starving human beings, some of the most shocking are images where the horror is inferred such as enormous piles of shoes or mounds of hair in warehouses
The opening shot is brilliant in showing a beautiful landscape shot before the camera lowers showing a barbed wired fence. A shot of surrounding villages with barbed wire fence in the foreground reminded me of The Zone of Interest (2023) as you have two worlds separated by not much more than a couple hundred feet. A cruel taunt that the prisoners can practically see these villages in which people can go about their normal lives
Despite the frequent changes between black and white to color, stills to moving camera footage, and narration to non-narrated parts, the film flows smoothly speaking to its impressive editing. There are a lot of pans used along with some high angle shots and a few ariel shots in addition to a few tracking shots
Verdict: MS
My ranking of Resnais`s films that I`ve seen:
1. Last Year at Marienbad MP
2. Providence MP
3. Hiroshima Mon Amour MP
4. My American Uncle MP
5. Night and Fog MS
5 Best Performances
1. Riva- Hiroshima Mon Amour
2. Gielgud- Providence
3. Seyrig- Last Year at Marienbad
4. Depardieu- My American Uncle
5. Okada- Hiroshima Mon Amour
@Drake – did you get the chance to catch Providence during your Resnais study? If so, what grade would you give it?
@LeBron Smith- I did not actually. I could not locate a decent copy of it. Still on the lookout.
Night and Fog MS
Hiroshima mon amour MP
Last Year at Marienbad MP
Muriel MS
Je t’aime, je t’aime R
Providence HR
Mon Oncle d’Amérique MS
Drake,
Have you seen Je t’aime, je t’aime?
I just watched Eternal Sunshine if a Spotless Mind for the first time. Apparently it’s a significant influence
@James Trapp- I have not had the chance to catch this one yet- sounds interesting!
Would you say Resnais is one of the great original directors who really made films that were different from almost anything else that came before them? Despite the influence of some of Buñuel’s earliest work I’d probably say that editing had never been done like Resnais did it in cinema before his time and more other directors than I can count had their films marked by the osmosis of his influence.
I think I might throw Herzog in this group as well for the absolute freshness of the themes he explores and for the way he almost inhabits inside himself the characters of his films which match those in terms of idiosyncrasy of Kiarostami who you have yourself mentioned correctly as an original director. Both Herzog and Resnais never bent to the norm throughout their entire careers and always kept to the same distinctive styles they built in even their first efforts.
@Zane- I’d agree here on Resnais and Herzog. I’d add Apichatpong Weerasethakul and a few others of course to that list
Last Year at Marienbad has to be one of the best films of all time. I genuinely think it may move into my top 10, it’s that fantastic. Around what spot are you looking at for it, Drake?
@Zane– I’m not entirely sure until I sit down and go through the process- but when doing my 1961 page I really couldn’t decide between it and Ozu’s The End of Summer which I had at #58 on my top 500 list in 2019.
How many slots do you think he’ll move up next time?
Look at Drake’s response to Matt Harris, three comments above yours on this page: “ I’d guess Resnais is between 50-75.”
@Zane- Yep Graham has it here- really good question. He should fly up this list when I update it next
what do you think now about Hiroshima mon amour? you still think that it’s not his best work?
Cheers
@benedetto – I did get a chance to watch 10 of his films in 2020– they’re not yet hyperlinked (sorry) – here but if you search “resnais” the archiveable ones will come up. I still think Marienbad is Resnais’ best work
@Matt Harris– here’s my shot. So some metrics i used are: number of top 500 films, number of top 100 films of the decade, and points of top 500 films (meaning the films at #1 get more points than the films at #400, etc). Some of these are too difficult to do but I feel confident that Resnais has 3 top 500 films now (prior to the study I wasn’t sure he had any). So only 74 directors had 3 or more. So if I were to venture a guess right now I’d guess Resnais is between 50-75. Quite a leap!
So if you were to hazard a guess, roughly how far does your Resnais study vault him up your list?