Last Year at Marienbad

Director: Alain Resnais

1961 / 94min / DCP

Variously pilloried and adulated in its time, and undeniably “one of the most influential movies ever made” [J. Hoberman, The Village Voice], Resnais’s coolly glittering, fascinating, frustrating film, made in collaboration with novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet, lays its scene at a hotel located in a baroque château. A man and a woman (Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) meet; he claims they had an affair a year ago; she has no memory of him; a third man (Sacha Pitoëff), who may or may not be the woman’s husband, intervenes only to further muddy the waters. A film of absolute ambiguity in both content and style, marked by abrupt shifts in timeframe and location, untrustworthy narration, and disconcerting editing patterns, and a work that has lured in generations of viewers hoping either to unlock its mysteries or simply relish in its solemn, seductive beauty.

Distributor: Rialto

Part of Voyage Chromatique: Ugo Bienvenu