RIP Alain Resnais

[Stavros]

The French director, Alain Resnais has died at the age of 91. He began his career making short documentaries, sometimes with Chris Marker, on Picasso, Gaugain, and a documentary on the Nazi death camps, Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog, 1955) which was one of the first documentaries of its kind to be made in France-using music and editing to produce a subjective, rather than conventional narrative- to to make a sensitive film that may be seen as a precursor to the more extensive, if also personal films of Marcel Ophuls on the French and the War. The feature films Resnais created exhibited his elliptical approach to narrative. Hiroshima, mon amour (1959) was unusual in that it was rare in cinema at that time (and since) for a 'white' woman to have sexual relations with an Asian man, while the inability of both to go beyond the moment and be free of the pull of each other's memories makes this a study in alienation as much as love. Last Year in Marienbad (1961) scripted by Robbe-Grillet remains one of the most perfectly formed puzzles of cinema; the stunning Delphine Seyrig occupies the private chambers of the film as simultaneously reality and fantasy, as the audience wonders if the affair ever happened, or if the people in the film ever existed. Resnais's subsequent films never maintained the quality of the first films, and did not receive the critical acclaim of the earlier ones, Muriel (1963) set during the Algerian war of independence and Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968) continue Resnais's interest in the problems of memory, but there are times when the ellipsis tends to dissolve, taking the audience with it. Resnais was undoubtedly a skilled film-maker with a diverse talent for documentary and feature film -though his late attempt at a musical On connait la chanson (1997) is embarrassing. Like it or not, he will be remembered for his pioneering documentaries in the 1950s, Hiroshima, mon amour; and Last Year in Marienbad.


Last Year in Marienbad (1961) Trailer - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc6n2McMAnY)

[Prospero]

I missed this news. Last year.... is a wonderful and intriguing film. A masterpiece.

I wonder if his death will warrant a mention at the big celebfest in LA tonight? Somehow, I doubt it....

RIP Mr Resnais.

[Stavros]

James Gandolfini was left out of the obituary tributes at the BAFTAS, I doubt most members of the Academy in the US have ever heard of Resnais.