Last Year at Marienbad
d. Alain Resnais, 1961
Though more a film that I admire than one I actively enjoy, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad is clearly a masterful work. If for no better reason, everyone should watch this film for its astounding beauty; Resnais' camera glides through the corridors and gardens of a large hotel, where his story takes place, and his black-and-white photography is some of the best I've seen. Delphine Seyrig (who, 14 years later, would play the title role in Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman) stars as A, a woman who must deal with the constant bickering of X (Giorgio Albertazzi), a stranger trying to convince her that they met last year. The film's dialogue and compositions serve as a way for Resnais to explore his recurring themes: memory, time, what it means to be human. I've seen Marienbad twice now, and I'm no closer to deciphering its many mysteries (if they can even be deciphered, that is) than when I first came to it. Yet, I feel as though it's a film that I can always come back to, just to remind myself of cinema's possibilities. Plus, did I mention how beautiful it is to look at?
