Last Year at Marienbad (1961) by Alain Resnais — Movie Discussion
Details
One of the defining work of the French New Wave, Alain Resnais’ epochal Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad) has been puzzling appreciative viewers for decades. Written by radical master of the New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet, this surreal fever dream, or nightmare, gorgeously fuses the past with the present in telling its ambiguous tale of a man and a woman (Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) who may or may not have met a year ago, perhaps at the very same cathedral-like, mirror-filled château they now find themselves wandering. Unforgettable in both its confounding details (gilded ceilings, diabolical parlor games, a loaded gun) and haunting scope, Resnais’ investigation into the nature of memory is disturbing, romantic, and maybe even a ghost story.
"Its psychological intrigue and its glossy, repressed images of ornate, oppressive settings are Resnais's way of pursuing, from different angles, themes similar to those of his other, more overtly political films." (The New Yorker)
"Last Year in Marienbad... doesn't seek to trick us, it seeks to portray self-trickery, asks what we might do about it, and why we might be afraid of its alternatives." (The Guardian)
"Obscure, oneiric, it's either some sort of masterpiece or meaningless twaddle." (Time Out)
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Pretentious nonsense or actually good? 🤔 Let's discuss Last Year at Marienbad (1961) by Alain Resnais, which polarized critics and audiences upon release but is now often hailed as one of the defining works of modernist cinema. The film was recently voted the 123rd greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of filmmakers and the 169th greatest movie of all time in the related poll of film critics and scholars. We've previously discussed Alain Resnais' Night and Fog (1956), his acclaimed documentary about Nazi concentration camps.
Please watch the movie in advance (94 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting. You can stream it here (check player settings for English subtitles and to adjust quality) or rent it through Criterion or other streaming platforms (for best quality). If you live in Toronto you can stream many movies and TV shows online for free through the Toronto Public Library.
DISCLAIMER: "The recurring attitude throughout most interpretations of Marienbad is that of sheer interpretation fatigue..." (Slant)
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This link here is a spreadsheet of the 150+ movies we've watched in this group and my ratings for each. You're invited to share your list too if you've watched a bunch of these movies with us. (I can add it here if you send me a link. You can make your own list on sites like Letterboxd or by copying my spreadsheet and filling in your own values. Note that my list doesn't include every movie that Yorgo hosted on cause I didn't watch all of them.)