Hiroshima mon amour (1959)

As a work of art, director Alain Resnais succeeds on many levels with this film.  It’s a beautiful mosaic composed of memorable imagery brilliantly edited together.  Certainly a montage dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear bomb is important, and a reason alone to experience this film.  Emmanuelle Riva and Eiji Okada are excellent as lovers on the verge of an emotional breakthrough.  I especially loved their scenes in the hotel room before he has her open up about her first lover back in France.  Unfortunately the stylized narration (from famed writer Marguerite Duras) drags the film down and left me incapable of caring about these characters.  I struggled to stay captivated and felt like I was reading more than watching a movie.  (Obviously knowing French might have helped with this, which is why if I view this again someday I plan to listen to a dubbed version, which I usually abhor.) Still for a film with such a promising concept and setting, I expect more.  I’ve read many glowing reviews of this film, calling it a cinematic poem, a masterpiece that redefined the language of film and so on.  For me, it was just a beautifully bland blend of memory from two underdeveloped characters.  Grade: B-

Resnais’ next work Last Year in Marienbad (L'Année dernière à Marienbad) was also a success in its day and is praised as a classic with many film lovers.  I have previously seen this film as well and must state that I don’t look forward to seeing anymore more of this director’s work.   Last Year of Marienbad makes Hiroshima Mon Amor seem like a thrill ride in comparison.  In the end, while I love invention and experimentation with narrative, a story needs to make me care about its characters.   I need to look forward to see what will happen.  Themes are great but without story one is left with just poetry.  If I wanted to read some poetry I’d pluck one of the many books of poems from my bookshelf and read.