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.

4k restoration from the original negative by Studiocanal at Hiventy laboratory, with the support of CNC and Chanel

Part of Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Through Cinema