Directed by:
Alain ResnaisScreenplay:
Alain Robbe-GrilletCinematography:
Sacha ViernyCast:
Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff, Françoise Bertin, Françoise Spira, Luce Garcia-Ville, Pierre Barbaud, Jean Lanier, Alan Edwards (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
In Alain Resnais's masterwork, each fantasy-laden, heavily dramatized, aesthetically perfect scene is dictated by the memories of a man (Giorgio Albertazzi), who is one of many elegant, aristocratic guests vacationing at the enchanting resort, Marienbad. Because the story consists of foggy memories that may or may not be accurate, the film unrolls like a repetitious dream. In the opening sequences, the man describes the immensity and silence of the lavishly decorated baroque hotel as the camera roams its empty hallways. Soon after, the hotel guests appear, assembled for a theater production inside the hotel. Like the actors in the play, the characters in the film make it obvious that they are also playing established roles and reciting lines. Sometimes they simply pose as the camera passes over them, while at other times, they stand like statues, trying to remember what happened last year. They amuse themselves with parlor games, ballroom waltzes, target practice in the shooting gallery, and strolls through the garden. Meanwhile, the man establishes the abstract plot about a love affair he began last year with a woman (Delphine Seyrig), reconstructed from his partial memories. She remembers nothing of the affair, not even the man's name. In fact, most of the guests cannot even recall the year in which these things might have happened--was it 1928 or 29? (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Delphine Seyrig
Lebanon
Best movies:
Giorgio Albertazzi
Italy
Best movies:
The Little World of Don Camillo (1952)
Le Notti Bianche (1957)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Sacha Pitoëff
Switzerland
Best movies:
Vengeance of the Three Musketeers (1961)
The Spies (1957)
The Seven Deadly Sins (1952)
Françoise Bertin
France
Best movies:
Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Same Old Song (1997)
Françoise Spira
France
Best movies:
Fan-Fan the Tulip (1952)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Chnouf (1955)
Luce Garcia-Ville
Best movies:
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
The Suspects (1974)
Nathalie Granger (1972)
Pierre Barbaud
Algeria
Best movies:
Hiroshima, My Love (1959)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968)
Jean Lanier
France
Best movies:
My New Partner (1984)
Cactus Flower (1969)
L'Appel du destin (1953)
Alan Edwards
UK
Best movies:
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Gérard Lorin
France
Best movies:
The Wing and the Thigh (1976)
I... For Icarus (1979)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)