Last Year at Marienbad (1961) L'année dernière à Marienbad (original title)

Director:

Alain Resnais

Writer:

Alain Robbe-Grillet (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

7 March 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Takes place in a chateau, an ambiguous story of a man and a woman who may or may not have met last year at Marienbad.

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Chateau | Oneiric | Persuasion | Experimental Film

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Delphine Seyrig	...	A - la femme brune
Giorgio Albertazzi	...	X - l'homme à l'accent italien
Sacha Pitoëff	...	M - l'autre homme au visage maigre, le mari
Françoise Bertin	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Luce Garcia-Ville	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Héléna Kornel	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Françoise Spira	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Karin Toche-Mittler
Pierre Barbaud	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Wilhelm von Deek	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Jean Lanier	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Gérard Lorin	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Davide Montemuri	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Gilles Quéant	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Gabriel Werner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alan Edwards	...	English Introduction (uncredited)

Directed by
Alain Resnais

Writing credits
Alain Robbe-Grillet		(scenario and dialogue)

Produced by
Pierre Courau	....	producer
Anatole Dauman	....	producer
Robert Dorfmann	....	co-producer
Raymond Froment	....	producer

Original Music by
Francis Seyrig

Cinematography by
Sacha Vierny

Film Editing by
Jasmine Chasney
Henri Colpi

Production Design by
Jacques Saulnier

Set Decoration by
Jean-Jacques Fabre
Georges Glon
André Piltant

Costume Design by
Bernard Evein

Makeup Department
Alexandre Marcus	....	key makeup artist
Éliane Marcus	....	makeup artist (as Elyane Marcus)

Production Management
Michel Choquet	....	post-production supervisor
Jean-Jacques Lécot	....	assistant production manager
Léon Sanz	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean Léon	....	first assistant director
Florence Malraux	....	second assistant director
Volker Schlöndorff	....	second assistant director (as Volker Schloendorff)

Art Department
Jean-Jacques Fabre	....	assistant art director
Georges Glon	....	assistant art director
Charles Merangel	....	set dresser
André Piltant	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Robert Cambourakis	....	sound
Jean-Claude Marchetti	....	sound
Jean Nény	....	sound
René Renault	....	sound
Guy Villette	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Louis Balthazard	....	key grip
Philippe Brun	....	camera operator
Elie Fontanille	....	chief electrician
Georges Pierre	....	still photographer
René Stocki	....	key grip

Music Department
André Girard	....	conductor
Marie-Louise Girod	....	musician: Orgue

Other crew
Sylvette Baudrot	....	script girl
Jean Fouchet	....	title designer
Janine Thaon	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Cocinor (present)
• Terra Film (co-production) (as Terra-Film)
• Cormoran Films (co-production) (as Société Nouvelle des Films Cormoran)
• Precitel (co-production)
• Como Film Production (co-production) (as Como-Film)
• Argos Films (co-production) (as Argos-Films)
• Les Films Tamara (co-production)
• Cinétel (co-production)
• Silver Films (co-production)
• Cineriz (co-production) (Rome)

Distributors

• Cocinor (1961) (France) (theatrical)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (1962) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Les Acacias (2007) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Rialto Pictures (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray) (new HD master)
• Fox Lorber (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Kinokuniya (2009) (Japan) (DVD) (new HD master)
• Optimum Home Entertainment (2005) (UK) (DVD) (PAL speed-up)
• Reel Media International (2004-2007) (USA) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)
• Studio Canal (1999) (France) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Les Films Impéria  music edition
• Mondia Music S.r.l.  music edition (as Mondiamusic)
• Chanel  select wardrobe: for Mademoiselle Seyrig
• Photosonor  studio
• S.I.M.O.  studio (as SIMO)

Also Known As:

"L'année dernière à Marienbad" - France (original title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | Italy:T | France:U | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Amalienburg Hunting Lodge, Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Cocinor

Trivia:

Italian censorship visa # 35942 delivered on 31-10-1961.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Exterior night scenes were shot day-for-night, but the sky and reflections of it were allowed in the frame, and they appear as bright white instead of black. This may have been intentional to emphasize the surreality of the film.

Quotes:

[X wanders through the hotel's corridors cataloging items he sees]
X:Empty salons. Corridors. Salons. Doors. Doors. Salons. Empty chairs, deep armchairs, thick carpets. Heavy hangings. Stairs, steps. Steps, one after the other. Glass objects, objects still intact, empty glasses. A glass that falls, three, two, one, zero. Glass partition, letters.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

Meandering & trance-like

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 take what we can from it.

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 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 (supposedly) the film Greenaway most admires.