Hiroshima mon amour (1959)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Alain Resnais

Writer:

Marguerite Duras (writer)

Release Date:

16 May 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

1959. A French young woman has spent the night with a japanese man, at Hiroshima where she went for the shooting of a film about peace...

Plot Keywords:

Hiroshima | Love | Memory | Asian Man White Woman Relationship | Japan

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Emmanuelle Riva	...	Elle
Eiji Okada	...	Lui
Stella Dassas	...	Mother
Pierre Barbaud	...	Father
Bernard Fresson	...	German Lover

Directed by
Alain Resnais

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Marguerite Duras		writer

Produced by
Anatole Dauman	....	producer
Samy Halfon	....	producer

Original Music by
Georges Delerue
Giovanni Fusco

Cinematography by
Michio Takahashi		(Japan) (as Takahashi Michio)
Sacha Vierny		(France)

Film Editing by
Jasmine Chasney
Henri Colpi
Anne Sarraute

Production Design by
Minoru Esaka		(as Esaka)
Mayo
Petri
Lucilla Mussini		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Gerard Collery

Makeup Department
Alexandre Marcus	....	key makeup artist (as A. Marcus)
Elaine Marcus	....	hair stylist (as Eliane Marcus)

Production Management
Sacha Kamenka	....	production manager
Takeo Shirakawa	....	production manager (as Shirakawa Takeo)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
T. Andrefouet	....	assistant director
R. Guyonne	....	assistant director
Hara	....	assistant director
Itoi	....	assistant director
J.P. Leon	....	assistant director
I. Shirai	....	assistant director

Art Department
Miyakuni	....	assistant set decorator

Sound Department
Pierre-Louis Calvet	....	sound engineer (as P. Calvet)
René Renault	....	sound engineer (as R. Renault)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Chiabaut	....	assistant camera (as J. Chiabaut)
Denys Clerval	....	assistant camera (as D. Clerval)
Ito	....	lighting technician
Goupil Watanabe	....	camera operator

Other crew
Sylvette Baudrot	....	script
Gérard Jarlot	....	literary consultant
Nicole Seyler	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Argos Films
• Como Films
• Daiei Studios
• Pathé Entertainment

Distributors

• Cocinor (1959) (France) (theatrical)
• Zenith International Films (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004-2006) (USA) (VHS)
• Reel Media International (2005-2006) (USA) (TV)
• KinoVista (2007) (Russia) (TV)
• Emerald (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Future Film (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)
• Ripley's Home Video (2007) (Italy) (DVD)
• Sagres Filmes (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

24 - jikan no joji (Japan)
24 Hour Affair (Japan: English title)
Hiroshima, My Love (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Hiroshima, mon amour

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

France | Japan

Language:

French | Japanese | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating) | Hungary:18 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Autun, Saône-et-Loire, France

Company:

Argos Films

Trivia:

Eiji Okada (playing Lui) did not know any French and was coached in pronouncing each syllable and memorized that order.

Quotes:

Elle: They make advertisements for soap. Why not for peace?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Die zweite Heimat - Chronik einer Jugend: Eifersucht und Stolz (#1.3)" (1993)

Persistence of Memory

"Hiroshima mon amour" (1959) is an extraordinary tale of two people, a French actress and a Japanese architect - a survivor of the blast at Hiroshima. They meet in Hiroshima fifteen years after August 6, 1945 and become lovers when she came there to working on an antiwar film. They both are hunted by the memories of war and what it does to human's lives and souls. Together they live their tragic past and uncertain present in a complex series of fantasies and nightmares, flashes of memory and persistence of it. The black-and-white images by Sasha Vierney and Mikio Takhashi, especially the opening montage of bodies intertwined are unforgettable and the power of subject matter is undeniable. My only problem is the film's Oscar nominated screenplay. It works perfectly for the most of the film but then it begins to move in circles making the last 20 minutes or so go on forever.