An art-house hit of its day, Last Day at Marienbad (1962) directed by Alain Resnais is seen today as a watermark of challenging cinema and, conceptually, represents a breakthrough in the cinematic representation of psychology.

The plot, such as it is, concerns a man who approaches a woman at an elegant hotel, then continually tries to convince her that they have met before, the year prior, at a retreat for the wealthy bourgeois, probably in Marienbad. She does not remember this meeting and becomes more annoyed as he presses on the subject.

On the surface, the simple story seems trivial enough, and the dreamlike tone and the film's stunning visual patterns (geometrical checkerboard landscapes, painted shadows, fluid tracking shots, unique use of mirrors and photographs, striking use of monochromatic repetition) gives us the impression of overt calculation. It's understandable to see why some viewers feel this film works purely on the level of intellectual abstraction. Yet for the daring viewer, if you dig deeper, you'll soon realize that the plot is an outlet to convey a creeping level of uncertainty. Its fascination lies not with the story but its execution of time and the questions of our immediate reality.

It's a film that defies comprehension , but still has enough meaning to allow the viewer to conclude for himself what the film is about - and what is it about? Viewers have debated this question for years: It's the story of a woman who returns to a hotel to meet her lover but is driven by guilt to deny the affair; or it's the story of a seducer who hangs around in a fashionable hotel convincing women to relive past sins in order to gain future ecstasies; or it's a story of a man who creates a fantasy out of his own vision relating to feeling and emotions he would have trouble conveying otherwise if he did not project them onto a dream psyche.

Whatever your interpretation, the story itself remains a mystery to the characters in the film and thus makes a beguiling game for the viewer. The fun lies with the questions, not the answers.

Directed by Alain Resnais
Screenplay by Alain Resnais and Alain Robbe-Grillet
Produced by Pierre Courau
Music by Francis Seyrig
Cinematography by Sacha Vierny
Cast: Delphine Seyrig (A/Woman), Giorgio Albertazzi (X/Stranger), Sacha Pitoeff (M/Escort/Husband).
BW-93m.

by Michael Toole