Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

In a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.

Director:

Alain Resnais

Writer:

Alain Robbe-Grillet (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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 Montemurri	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel (as Davide Montemuri)
Gilles Quéant	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Gabriel Werner

Storyline

In a huge, old-fashioned luxury hotel a stranger tries to persuade a married woman to run away with him, but it seems she hardly remembers the affair they may have had (or not?) last year at Marienbad.

---

Plot Keywords:

surrealism | hotel | french new wave | uncertainty | persuasion | 

---

Taglines:

It Has The "Marienbad Look"

---

Genres:

Drama | Mystery

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

7 March 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Last Year at Marienbad

Filming Locations:

Antiquarium, Residenz München, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$19,113, 20 January 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$143,381, 10 August 2008

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cocinor,Terra Film,Cormoran Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And How They Got That Way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

---

Goofs

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: I must have you alive. Alive, as you have already been every evening, for weeks, for months.
A: I have never stayed so long anywhere.
X: Yes, I know. I don't care. For days and days. Why don't you still want to remember anything?
A: You're raving! I'm tired, leave me alone!

---

Connections

Referenced in Level Five (1997)

User Reviews

High Water Mark

After hearing about this film countless times in various interviews and critics books *particularly interviews with Peter Greenaway* I finally decided to give it a shot. And this film has definitely shot into my top five films of all time overnight.

Resnais does a good amount of things in this film that he had tried in 'Hiroshima Mon Amour', but they are all done more effectively in this, his follow-up to Hiroshima. The way the characters interact with each other and with the audience is perfect on every level, driving the confusion of the situation further into your mind as well as the characters. The editing is flawlessly non-linear and non-traditional, the cinematography is some of the best of the period. The setting in the hotel often reminded me of Kubrick's 'The Shining', with the paranoid music and long tracking shots.

I would say the best way to describe this film is 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' with a good touch of Bunuel thrown in. It is intentionally bizarre and leaves much interpretation to the viewer, but never strays into idiotic territory. 9 out of 10.