Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad is one of the most frustrating movies I've yet to come across. It has no sense of time or space. Time jumps around, and sometimes the characters will continue their conversation as if nothing has happened, other times an entirely new scene is started this way. It's incredibly unconventional and enigmatic. I'm not even sure how I feel about it, because there's a fine line between enigmatic and thought-provoking and stupidly confusing.

Marienbad has a great, dreamlike atmosphere. It really feels as if you're in a trance-like state for 90 minutes. Whereas other films are obviously surreal, Marienbad has a pretty standard story and characters in a completely unconventional narrative. The camerawork is beautiful, and along with the music and somber delivery, really adds to the dreamlike atmosphere of the film.

I don't even know where to start in attempting to make sense of the film itself. The folks in the spa seem to be perpetually playing games, card games, parlor games with toothpicks and such, with a character supposedly named M always managing to outwit the rest of the residents. This seems to be what Resnais is doing in Marienbad, always trying to outwit and confuse the viewer. The characters often stop in mid-action while the camera tracks around, capturing them as if they were statues. This, of course, brings to mind the statue that A and X discuss in the courtyard. There can be many different interpretations as to what the statue of the 3 figures really means, perhaps as many as people that see it. Maybe the film is the same way.

This is the kind of movie that can haunt you, egg you on and challenge you to unravel its mysteries. I'm not quite sure if there's anything to it, or it it's simply an exersize in post-modernism. Maybe time will tell.