Toute la mémoire du monde (1956)

Director:

Alain Resnais

Writer:

Rémo Forlani (commentary)

Stars:

Jacques Dumesnil, Dominique Raoul-Duval, Phil Davis

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jacques Dumesnil	...	Narrator (voice)
Dominique Raoul-Duval	...	Extra
Phil Davis	...	Extra
Chester Gould	...	Extra
Marie-Claire Pasquier	...	Extra
Denise York	...	Extra
Robert Rendigal	...	Extra
Benigno Caceres	...	Extra (as Benigne Caceres)
François-Régis Bastide	...	Extra
Agnès Varda	...	Extra
Monique Le Porrier	...	Extra
Juliette Caputo	...	Extra (as Giulietta Caputo)
Paulette Borker	...	Extra
André Heinrich	...	Extra
Joseph Rovan	...	Extra

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

reader | statue | paris france | book | library | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

9 June 1966 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Alles Gedächtnis der Welt

Filming Locations:

Bibliothèque nationale - 58 Rue de Richelieu, Paris 2, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films de la Pleiade

Technical Specs

Runtime:

21 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Architects of Thought (2008)

User Reviews

Space of memory, preface

This one prefaces Resnais subsequent work, memory and what forms appear in it. The consistently brilliant touch of this is that he visualizes memory by means of cinema, a space which the camera can literally explore.

Here he stumbles upon a fitting metaphor for the mind, the National Library of France. We see how knowledge is routinely amassed and categorized there, how people daily wade through so much information which then is merely stored away for future reference. What looks frightening to me is not that what is infinite and beyond words is believed that it can fit into shelves, but the megalomania behind the enterprise, the belief that among these shelves the secrets of the universe may be unlocked one day.

But what is stored away there is merely thought or the objects of it. Our civilization destroyed by some imaginary catastrophe, how will an alien visiting the ruins of this library know how we experienced through our eyes a gust of wind or a sunset?

To accommodate with the ever increasing influx of information, we're shown how the library burrows further underground, digging deeper inside of us. Resnais explores this cavernous place with a camera that recalls the future endeavors of Sacha Vierny, and although a bit obvious in what is intended by it, as a prologue of what was then to come, it's a great watch.