L’année Dernière à Marienbad (1961, OV)   Direction: Alain Resnais

In an ornate baroque palace, a man X (Giorgio Albertazzi) meets an elegant woman A (Delphine Seyrig) and tries to convince her that they had agreed the year before to meet again in Marienbad to start a new life together. He confronts her with details from the past, but she doesn’t remember anything. Was it really in Marienbad last year? Are his memories true? Or are they dreams, fantasies? Or is it all a strategy for seduction? Endless corridors, countless rooms and a voice that tries to conjure up a past that may never have existed. In this unique experiment, Resnais interweaves the levels of time and reality to create ambiguous, labyrinthine scenes of fascinating visual power. A key work of French cinema based on a screenplay by the writer and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet.

Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad) made history. In 1961, the film was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and two years later it was nominated for Best Film at the British Film Academy Awards.

Direction: Alain Resnais
Screenplay: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Camera: Sacha Vierny; Musik: Francis Seyrig
Editing: Henri Colpi, Jasmine Chasney
With: Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff, Françoise Bertin, Luce Garcia-Ville