Last Year at Marienbad

1961 [FRENCH]

Action / Drama / Mystery / Romance

24
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 84% · 58 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 84% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.6/10 10 26687 26.7K

hotel card game extramarital affair mystery mysterious criterion

Plot summary

In a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.

Director

Alain Resnais Photo
Alain Resnais

Top cast

Giorgio Albertazzi Photo
Giorgio Albertazzi as X - l'homme à l'accent italien
Françoise Bertin Photo
Françoise Bertin as Un personnage de l'hôtel
Delphine Seyrig Photo
Delphine Seyrig as A - la femme brune
Gilles Quéant Photo
Gilles Quéant as Un personnage de l'hôtel
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
780.67 MB
1280*544
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 7
1.49 GB
1920*816
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 31

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Afracious 9 / 10

Meandering & trance-like

This mysterious film shows us a man and a woman in an extravagant and capacious hotel. The man insists that he had an affair with the lady last year in Marienbad (or was it somewhere else?) The woman denies it, and just wants the man to leave her alone. Perhaps the man did meet her, perhaps he didn't. Resnais puts the pieces there and lets us take what we can from it.The beautiful looking establishment, complete with gardens of splendour, is an eerie setting for the film. The guests seem like they are in a trance most of the time. A card game is shown where a man cannot be beaten, he claims. The cinematography is brilliant. Dark, then white, giving a blinking effect at times; and constantly switching between different locations. The music throughout the film sounds like it's from an old church organ. I can understand why this film will put off some people, because it doesn't explain much, and does meander at a pedestrian pace. But approached in the right mood, and watched in a dark room, this is a film to appreciate. Peter Greenaway thinks so; the film was influential in the making of The Draughtsman's Contract, and is (supposedly) the film Greenaway most admires.
Reviewed by arighnachatterjee 8 / 10

Aesthetic delusion

A reconstruction of the tiniest details of one's memories of a point of time about a person & place directed in a mysteriously artistic way. The film felt like a poetry because of the narrative monologue. The film puts the audience in an active dilemma as whether the two strangers who happened to come across are actually strangers or acquaintances. There's an inexpiable serenity in the film which needs to be felt. I can assure that the film direction is absolutely unique and is something which has not been experienced much. You'll either really love it or put it aside, nothing in between. A definite peak in the art genre.
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