Alain Resnais has always held a place of prominence with me, though until recently this was entirely based on two films, Hiroshima, Mon Amour and Last Year at Marienbad. They resonate with me on a continually shifting plane, they are unconquerable films. Though each viewing imparts some profound truth, they each maintain a mystique that calls you back to reconsider them again. The beauty lies in the allusive nature of their contemplation and Resnais' perpetual (almost cyclical) questioning of time and memory.
In approaching Muriel I did not expect to encounter anything more than a shadow of Resnais' previous films. But Muriel somehow stepped around the shadow of Hiroshima and Marienbad, it is an important film in it's own right.
It holds the same enigmatic beauty that Resnais exhibits in his earlier films but it's composition pushes it into territory that feels untouched. The film's exploration of tension and regret center around the ambiguity of memory in a way that illustrates how memories are a construct of choice as much as a result of their experience. Though this theme of memory as choice is nothing new, Resnais underlines not the concept itself as the focus but the fear of it's reality. The images he chooses and the sequencing of events make Muriel feel like something beyond comprehension is boiling just under the surface the whole time.
Seeing this film was like hearing a language for the first time and inexplicably understanding it. Though I suppose that is true of all his work.
No comments:
Post a Comment