Mélo

Director: Alain Resnais

1986 / 112min / DCP

Resnais blurs the line between cinematic technique and theatrical artifice in his acclaimed adaptation of Henri Bernstein’s classic play about a doomed love triangle in 1920s Paris. Celebrated concert violinists Pierre (Pierre Arditi) and Marcel (André Dussollier) have been lifelong friends, despite their differing temperaments. Pierre is modest, sensitive, and content with his lot, while Marcel is hungry, driven, and pursues a solo career that takes him to the four corners of the world. After years apart, the two men reunite when Pierre invites Marcel over for dinner. It is then that Marcel first meets Pierre’s wife Romaine (Sabine Azéma), sparking a passionate affair that can only end in tragedy before the curtain falls. A hidden gem in Resnais’s celebrated body of work, Mélo is as thrillingly intimate on film as it was on the stage.

Introduction from Elisha Karmitz on Friday, June 7th