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
So if you were to hazard a guess, roughly how far does your Resnais study vault him up your list?
@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!
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
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
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.
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
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!
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 – 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.
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