Last Year in Marienbad (L'Annee derniere a Marienbad) (1961)

Before Herzog, before Lynch came this mysterious & surreal offering by visionary French film director, Alain Resnais. The film is set in a spa-hotel in Marienbad, where a collection of elegant guests spend various periods of time away from their daily lives. They include an enigmatic married couple (named M & A) & the wife's lover (X), who meets A there each year & attempts to convince her to go away with him. Because the film itself is the very antithesis of traditional narrative film-making, there is not much more one can add about the plot per se. The actors skilfully convey a marvellous sense of derealisation & depersonalisation that enhances the other-worldly ambience of this unique ouvrage. Each frame of this filmic gem is a miniature work of art. The photography is breathtaking in its exquisite perfection. Beautiful, haunting imagery abounds. Of particular impact is the confronting & overpowering vista of the formal rear gardens of the hotel. Looking more like an abstract black & white drawing by Escher than anything organic created by Nature, one is forced to pause & reflect & perhaps even be challenged. Much in the manner that the artistry of Japanese bonsai challenges one....at first glance, one sees only beauty, but the longer one's gaze is held, the deeper one sees. There are increasingly disturbing layers as one looks deeper & deeper....the battle of man against nature, the endless need of man to conquer, tame & bend to his will, the essential horror of realising that one possesses the faculty to be able to find such perfect beauty in something so mutilated & destroyed. But this is merely a distraction from the film's main subject matter which concerns itself with exploring human consciousness & memory. Resnais, himself, described it as "a crude & primitive attempt to capture the complexity of thought & its mechanisms". He does not do himself justice. This is a truly unique film of 20th century cinema. *****5 out of 5 stars*****

Oh how I hate movies that refuse to understand the genre. Call me a philistine but no character development or plot variation = dull, dull, dull fare. Awful.