Nominees: Viridiana, Yojimbo, La Notte, The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer, Mother Joan of the Angels, One Eyed Jacks, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Through a Glass Darkly, The Innocents, The Young One, Dancing in the Rain
Oscars pick: West Side Story
Nominees: Fanny, Guns of Navarone, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremberg
A modernist work of art, a master class of form over traditional narrative. Last Year at Marienbad has been called a “film about the power of cinema”, and a story of repressed memory, or false memory. But it’s ultimately whatever you think it is.
Me? I think memory is a ghost. And this is a ghost story, fueled by an unsettling desire.
Throughout the picture, a man, credited as X, tries to persuade A, who doesn’t remember him, that they had an affair the year before. Is X’s pursuit romantic, or is it harassment?
Screenwriter Robbe-Grillett originally wrote in a rape scene and felt that X had probably never met A before. Director Resnais removed the rape and was of the opinion that the two had probably met a year earlier. This collision of contrasting ideas lends an overall disquieting tone to the film.
Memory is a ghost, it’s vague and ethereal. And this reads like a ghost story.
Maybe it’s that spooky organ music, which makes me think of Carnival of Souls. Maybe it’s the way the camera glides through hallways as if we are watching the movie through the eye of a floating spirit. Maybe it’s the use of split lenses (not split-screen work mind you) so that when we see two people in the same room, it appears as if they are NOT inhabiting the same space at all. Maybe it’s the backgrounds that suddenly change, like the Hotel itself is an apparition.
It’s in the way people move, or don’t move. The performances are disassociated, stilted; these people are more like phantoms than flesh and blood. The story X tells A is unreliable and ever changing: is that false memory or a specter’s wispy fugue state of mind?
Everything in this film keeps me off balance (and I like that): People are constantly seen in reflective surfaces, in one scene their shadows are painted in. Their clothing changes mid-conversation. They are shot draped in the deepest darkness, and in other moments, in a white glare so blinding they seem to disappear into the background...
...like ghosts.
And memory is a ghost. We are seeing what the characters are remembering - memory is faulty - remembering is like visiting an ever-fluctuating spirit world.
That’s how I see it. But whether you are of the opinion that the movie is an enigmatic artistic masterpiece, or feel it’s the pretentious work of two self-indulgent intellectuals, this is the magic of Marienbad. Each viewer works the film out for themselves, and no two people see the same exact thing.
Other pictures I liked...
West Side Story enthralled me in my youth -- and while I can see its imperfections in my adulthood, I still enjoy the Oscar winner (a modern, musical telling of Romeo and Juliet). In addition to that I’m mad over the flawed but captivating Breakfast at Tiffany's, Brando's directorial debut, the western, One Eyed Jacks, Antonioni's brilliant La Notte, the moving The Human Condition III, Bunuel's tale of racism and pedophilia The Young One (1 of only 2 English language films he made), and Kurosawa's biting Yojimbo.
Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Mother Joan of the Angels? If you've seen Ken Russell's The Devil's, this is the aftermath. Mother is not as campy or garish, which I preferred. The acting is superb, and I named Lucyna Winnicka as my best actress. It's a rather chilling tale with an ending- SPOILER ALERT- that outdoes a similar act from the Exorcist. But the biggest challenger to Marienbad?
Writer Hal Erickson's synopsis... "After 25 years' exile, Luis Buñuel was invited to his native Spain to direct Viridiana -- only to have the Spanish government suppress the film on the grounds of blasphemy and obscenity. Regarded by many as Buñuel's crowning achievement, the film centers on an idealistic young nun named Viridiana (Silvia Pinal). Just before taking her final vows, Viridiana is forced by her mother superior to visit her wealthy uncle Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), who has "selflessly" provided for the girl over the years. She has always considered Don Jaime an unspeakable beast, so she is surprised when he graciously welcomes her into his home. Just as graciously, he sets about to corrupt Viridiana beyond redemption -- all because the girl resembles his late wife. It is always hard to select the most outrageous scene in any Buñuel film; our candidate in Viridiana is the devastating Last Supper tableau consisting of beggars, thieves, and degenerates. As joltingly brilliant today as on its first release, Viridiana won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival."
Honorable Mentions:
Stuart Whitman, The Mark * Paul Newman, The Hustler * Marcello Mastroianni, La Notte & Divorce, Italian Style * Dirk Bogarde, Victim * Clark Gable, The Misfits * Tatsuya Nakadai, The Human Condition III * Mieczyslaw Voit, Mother Joan of the Angels * Dilip Kumar, Ganga Jumna
Honorable Mentions:
Duša Počkaj, Dancing in the Rain * Harriet Andersson, Through a Glass Darkly * Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's * Deborah Kerr, the Innocents * Silvia Pinal, Viridiana * Emmanuelle Riva, Léon Morin, Priest * Ayako Wakao, A Wife Confesses * Hideko Takamine, Happiness of Us Alone * Jeanne Moreau & Monica Vitti, La Notte
Supporting Actress: Ruby Dee, A Raisin in the Sun
Supporting Actor: Martin Stephens, The Innocents
Loads of great acting this year: a few faves I left off my nominees, Hayley Mills, Whistle Down the Wind, Annie Girardot, Shadows of Adultery, Carroll Baker, Something Wild, James Cagney, One, Two, Three, and the all-star casts of The Huster and Paris Blues
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Supporting Actor: Martin Stephens, The Innocents
Loads of great acting this year: a few faves I left off my nominees, Hayley Mills, Whistle Down the Wind, Annie Girardot, Shadows of Adultery, Carroll Baker, Something Wild, James Cagney, One, Two, Three, and the all-star casts of The Huster and Paris Blues
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