Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
A film by Alain Resnais
This mysterious film shows us a
man and a woman in an extravagant and capacious hotel. The man insists that he
had an affair with the lady last year in Marienbad (or was it somewhere else?).
The woman denies it, and just wants the man to leave her alone. Perhaps the man
did meet her, perhaps he didn't. Resnais puts the pieces there and lets us
decide.
The beautiful looking establishment, complete with gardens of splendour, is an
eerie setting for the film. The guests seem like they are in a trance most of
the time. A card game is shown where a man cannot be beaten, he claims. The
cinematography by Sacha Vierny is brilliant. Dark, then white, giving a blinking effect at
times, and constantly switching between different locations. The music
throughout the film sounds like it's from an old church organ. I can understand
why this film will put off some people, because it doesn't explain much, and
does meander at a pedestrian pace. But approached in the right mood, and watched
in a dark room, this is a film to appreciate. Peter Greenaway
thinks so; the film was influential in the making of The
Draughtsman's Contract and is (allegedly) the film Greenaway most admires.
