L'année dernière à Marienbad (1961)

Director:

Alain Resnais

Writer:

Alain Robbe-Grillet (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

7 March 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The point of this film is that the leading character and the audience are experiencing the feeling of deja vu throughout. The plot itself is not really important.

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Card Game | Monologue | Surrealism | Cult Director

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Delphine Seyrig	...	A / Woman
Giorgio Albertazzi	...	X / Stranger
Sacha Pitoëff	...	M / Escort / Husband
Françoise Bertin	...	Un personnage de l'hôtel
Luce Garcia-Ville
Héléna Kornel
Françoise Spira
Karin Toche-Mittler
Pierre Barbaud
Wilhelm von Deek
Jean Lanier
Gérard Lorin
Davide Montemuri
Gilles Quéant
Gabriel Werner

Directed by
Alain Resnais

Writing credits
Alain Robbe-Grillet		(scenario and dialogue)

Produced by
Pierre Courau	....	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
Elaine 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)
• Studio Canal (1999) (France) (DVD)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (1962) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• 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 Releasing (2005) (UK) (DVD) (PAL speed-up)
• Reel Media International (2004-2007) (USA) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)

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'anno scorso a Marienbad (Italy)
Last Year at Marienbad (USA)
Last Year in Marienbad (UK)

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 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Cocinor

Trivia:

"Marienbad" is the German name of the spa town Mariánské Lázne, Czech Republic.

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:

Featured in Dans le labyrinthe de Marienbad (2005) (V)

A modernist classic

Cinema has, for the most part, been a relatively conservative art form. Perhaps it's the expense of making a feature film which has meant that they largely remain within limits and conventions imposed by commerce. Often those willing to experiment have been forced to work with low budgets and poor production values, and those regarded as more radical directors often have a very traditional approach to narrative.

But then there's Last Year in Marienbad. Robbe-Grillet was the leading light and main theorist of the nouveau roman, and already had masterpieces like In the Labyrinth and Jealousy behind him. His literary style is obsessed with visual description, meaning the jump to cinema was an obvious one. And he did it utterly without compromise.

Not that all the credit goes to Robbe-Grillet's scenario: Resnais' realisation of the ideas is near perfect, and Vierny's photography is a thing of wonder, creating a film of unique beauty.

It's possible just to sit back and enjoy it as a sumptuous treat, but there's a nagging feeling that you have to figure out what it all means. You just have to try to analyse it. Amongst all the repetitions of the dialogue, a phrase suddenly jumps out, that seems to be a key to crack the enigma, or is it just a red herring. Maybe next time I watch it, I'll crack it...

Apparently Andre Breton was one of the first to see it, and (understandably?) hated it. For all it's dreamlike atmosphere, this is fiercely structured, a game, but quite distinct from surrealism's Freudian games of chance. For Foucault and Deleuze, Robbe-Grillet's endless, inescapable mazes were paradoxically a route out of the prevailing existentialism and post-Marxism of the French intellectual elite.

A genuinely original film, showing the true potential of cinema, a challenge few since have had the courage to follow.

I need to watch it again...