Muriel, or The Time of Return (1963)
"Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour" (original title)

In the seacoast town of Boulogne, Hélène sells antique furniture, living with her step-son, Bernard, who's back from military duty in Algiers. An old lover of Hélène's comes to visit - ... See full summary »

Director:

Alain Resnais

Writer:

Jean Cayrol (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Nita Klein

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Delphine Seyrig	...	Hélène Aughain
Jean-Pierre Kérien	...	Alphonse Noyard
Nita Klein	...	Françoise
Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée	...	Bernard Aughain (as Jean-Baptiste Thierrée)
Claude Sainval	...	Roland de Smoke
Laurence Badie	...	Claudie
Jean Champion	...	Ernest
Jean Dasté	...	L'homme à la chèvre / The Goat Man
Martine Vatel	...	Marie-Dominique, aka Marie-Do
Julien Verdier	...	Le loueur de chevaux / The Stableman
Philippe Laudenbach	...	Robert
Nelly Borgeaud	...	La femme du couple d'acheteurs
Catherine de Seynes	...	Angèle
Gaston Joly	...	Antoine, le tailleur / Antoine the Tailor
Gérard Lorin	...	Marc

Storyline

In the seacoast town of Boulogne, Hélène sells antique furniture, living with her step-son, Bernard, who's back from military duty in Algiers. An old lover of Hélène's comes to visit - Alphonse - with his niece Françoise; he too is back from Algiers, where he ran a café. Bernard speaks of his fiancée, Muriel, whom Hélène has not met. The narrative, like memory and intention, is jumpy, the past obscured by guilt, misperceptions, and missed possibilities. Appearances deceive, things change. As Hélène and Alphonse try to sort out a renewal, everyone seems off-kilter just enough to hint that all cannot end well. Can anyone know another?

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Plot Keywords:

memory | seaside | cult director | boulogne sur mer | french colony | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

13 March 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Muriel, or The Time of Return

Filming Locations:

Building A, Boulevard Gambetta, Allée Louis Labarre, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argos Films, Alpha Productions, Eclair

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Peppermint Soda (1977)

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Soundtracks

"Dejà"
By Paul Colline and Paul Maye
(RAOUL BRETON éditions)

User Reviews

brilliant, difficult movie

not for the casual DVD renter. Muriel is *not* entertainment but a film that demands that we endure its theatricality and embalmed atmosphere in order to reflect, along with Resnais, about various kinds of unbearable pasts, personal and national. The city of Boulogne is itself a character in Muriel, rebuilt and unrecognizable after the bombings of World War II...Helene (Delphine Seyrig) is an antique dealer whose home is her gallery--so she lives in a jumble of distant French pasts all the better to avoid her own. The "home movie" sequence is one of the few in French cinema of the 60s where the Algerian War is figured--but here, we see happy soldiers hanging out, images to send home (and to French TV), while the voice-over (Helene's stepson) recounts the rape and torture of the Algerian woman named in the title. Daring, in light of French censorship of any text that compromised state security during the "Algerian situation." Muriel will leave you with more questions than resolutions.