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Alain Resnais (1922- )

Filmography

L'aventure de Guy (short, 1936)

Schéma d'une identification (short, 1946)

Ouvert pour cause d'inventaire (Open for Inventory Causes) (short, 1946)

Visite à Oscar Dominguez (short, 1947)

Visite à Lucien Coutard (short, 1947)

Visite à Hans Hartung (short, 1947)

Visite à Félix Labisse (short, 1947)

Visite à César Doméla (short, 1947)

Van Gogh (short, 1947)

Portrait d'Henri Goetz (short, 1947)

Le lait Nestlé (short, 1947)

Journée naturelle (short, 1947)

La bague (short, 1947)

L'alcool tue (short, 1947)

Van Gogh (short, 1948)

Malfray (short, 1948)

Les jardins de Paris (short, 1948)

Châteaux de France (short, 1948)

Guernica (short, 1950) Milestone (R1) – included on The Mystery of Picasso

Gauguin (short, 1950)

Pictura (segment « Goya », 1951)

Les statues meurent aussi (Statues Also Die) (short, 1953)

Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog) (short, 1955) Criterion (R1) / Nouveaux (R2 UK) / Arte (R2 FR)

Toute la mémoire du monde (short, 1956) Optimum (R2 UK) – included as extra on Last Year at Marienbad / BFI (R2 UK) – included as extra on Celine and Julie Go Boating

Le mystère de l'atelier quinze (short, 1957)

Le Chant du Styrène (short, 1958) Alto Media (R2 SK) – included in the Their First Films collection

Hiroshima, mon amour (1959) Criterion (R1) / Nouveaux (R2 UK) /Artè Video (R2 FR)

L'année dernière à Marienbad (Last Year at Marienbad) (1961) Fox Lorber (R1) / Optimum (R2 UK)

Muriel ou le temps d'un retour (1963) Koch Lorber (R1) / Arte (R2 FR)

La guerre est finie (The War Is Over) (1966) Image Entertainment (R1)

Loin du Vietnam (Far from Vietnam) (1967)

Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968)

L'An 01 (The Year 01) (co-directed with Jacques Doillon, 1973)

Stavisky… (1974) Image Entertainment (R1) / Studio Canal (R2 FR)

Providence (1977) Manga Films (R2 ES)

Mon oncle d'Amérique (My American Uncle) (1980) New Yorker (R1) / mk2 (R2 FR) – also included in Coffret Alain Resnais

La vie est un roman (Life Is a Bed of Roses) (1983) mk2 (R2 FR) – also included in Coffret Alain Resnais

L'amour à mort (Love Unto Death) (1984) mk2 (R2 FR) – also included in Coffret Alain Resnais

Mélo (1986) mk2 (R2 FR) – also included in Coffret Alain Resnais

I Want to Go Home (1989) mk2 (R2 FR) – also included in Coffret Alain Resnais

Contre l'oubli (segment “Pour Esteban Gonzalez Gonzalez Cuba, 1991)

Gershwin (1992)

Smoking/No Smoking (1993) Fox Pathé (R2 FR) / Filmax (R2 ES)

On connaît la chanson (Same Old Song) (1997) mk2 (R2 FR) / Pathé (R2 FR)

Pas sur la bouche (Not on the Lips) (2003) Wellspring (R1) / Pathé (R2 UK) / Fox Pathé (R2 FR)

Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places) (2006)


General Discussion

Last Year at Marienbad

Resnais and Verneuil DVD questions


Recommended Web Resources

The Boston Phoenix – “Mixed doubles – The Films of Alain Resnais at HFA” by Chris Fujiwara

Cineaste – article on “Night and Fog” by Robert Michael (1984)

EuroScreenwriters – short interview with Resnais from the Venice Film Festival (September, 2006)

Films de France

Rouge 1, 2003 – “Marcel in Marienbad” article by Mark Rappaport

Senses of Cinema – article on “Last Year at Marienbad” by Darragh O'Donoghue

Senses of Cinema – article on “Muriel: The Time of Return” by Crissa-Jean Chappell

Senses of Cinema – article on “Nuit et brouillard” by James Leahy

The Stream of Consciousness in the Films of Alain Resnais – first chapter of a book by Haim Callev

Strictly Film School

Any thoughts on Providence?

Review from The Cinematic:

It is the manifestation of a novelist’s last work, who has been accused of being all style and no feeling, rendered visually by a filmmaker who has been accused of the same. A last work informed by dementia and physical pain and impending death, overwhelming guilt, and the distortion of a life’s memories, loves, and unresolved filaments. The theatricality and demented, doom-filled atmosphere are of a piece with the mind creating them, straining out a fictionalized version of his family’s lives while hovering over toilet seats, crashing to the floor in agony, and colliding with images of mortality. In his mind, the images of his two sons, his wife, and his daughter-in-law shift and reform malevolently. Every bodily need and emotional impulse is confused one for the other. And in the end — oh, the resolution — this film is impossibly perfect.

So, it pretty much sounds amazing. I've heard the score by Miklos Rozsa (released by Italian CD label CAM), which is absolutely gorgeous.

Dylan wrote:Any thoughts on Providence?

Review from The Cinematic:

It is the manifestation of a novelist’s last work, who has been accused of being all style and no feeling, rendered visually by a filmmaker who has been accused of the same. A last work informed by dementia and physical pain and impending death, overwhelming guilt, and the distortion of a life’s memories, loves, and unresolved filaments. The theatricality and demented, doom-filled atmosphere are of a piece with the mind creating them, straining out a fictionalized version of his family’s lives while hovering over toilet seats, crashing to the floor in agony, and colliding with images of mortality. In his mind, the images of his two sons, his wife, and his daughter-in-law shift and reform malevolently. Every bodily need and emotional impulse is confused one for the other. And in the end — oh, the resolution — this film is impossibly perfect.

So, it pretty much sounds amazing. I've heard the score by Miklos Rozsa (released by Italian CD label CAM), which is absolutely gorgeous.

It's okay for the most part, but I find the pomposity of it a little overbearing. And I guess Resnais couldn't have truly known how bad his actors sounded, but the tone is never quite right. Everything is too wry and self-satisfied, especially Gielgud's narration. Moments where the characters slip into vulgarities (about erections, underwear stains, and so forth) sound hollow and forced. But the ending really does make it all worthwhile.

Can't remember anything about the score, I'm afraid.

I just got an email telling me that Same Old Song is coming out on R1 DVD this Tuesday from what used to be New Yorker (?)

A good quality 1.66:1 pillarbox upload of Providence was uploaded last week: Part 1

The user is from Sweden and he got it from a torrent site. I wonder where it originated?

Here's something perfectly weird. The National Gallery in DC was going to show Hirsoshima Mon Amour this weekend, but they just sent out an e-mail that says, "Because of circumstances beyond the Gallery's control, Hiroshima mon amour has been withdrawn from all future public screenings."

Is that just poorly worded or is something nefarious going on here? I'll try to find out if nobody's heard anything.

They're showing Je t'aime, je t'aime instead, which is so rarely seen that I wouldn't complain.

Fiery Angel wrote:They're showing Je t'aime, je t'aime instead, which is so rarely seen that I wouldn't complain.

Oh, I'm not complaining about being able to see Je t'aime (which I've never seen). I'm just disturbed that it says Hiroshima has been withdrawn from "all future public screenings." That's a pretty definitive sentence, unless of course some dipshit just worded it poorly.

I stand by my work

"Because of circumstances beyond the Gallery's control, Hiroshima mon amour has been withdrawn from all future public screenings."

That's in reference to an ongoing, nasty rights dispute. I had drop the film at the last minute from my own program after having reserved it months in advance for the same reason. Fortunately, I was quickly able to get a new print of Muriel in as a replacement, but it is very troubling that a film as important as Hiroshima, Mon Amour is now out of circulation indefinitely. The same thing has happened with Renoir's great "Crime of Monsieur Lange."

My understanding is that this is related to a recent change in French law that makes it possible for the "estate" of anyone involved in a film to sue for any number of reasons (always in search of a monetary settlement or a portion of the rights, of course).

Thanks for the info. I was more than curious about that. My fear was that a French Beatrice Welles acquired the rights to the film, which sounds like essentially what happened.

ptmd wrote: The same thing has happened with Renoir's great "Crime of Monsieur Lange."

Oh dear, would that be the explanation for the non-appearance of that film in the CC despite it being more or less confirmed for a long time now?

Here's a brief response from the French Embassy's press attaché:

Apparently there's a conflict between the copyright-owners, and so we can't screen it until it's been cleared up. We're hoping the issue will be resolved, but until then we've included "Je t'aime Je t'aime" instead.

It doesn't add much, I know, but he doesn't make it sound too dire.

Oh dear, would that be the explanation for the non-appearance of that film in the CC despite it being more or less confirmed for a long time now?

I have no idea, since video rights are sometimes handled differently from public exhibition rights, but it's entirely possible. I can definitely assure you, though, that public screenings are blocked right now.

The Hiroshima Mon Amour dispute will, of course, be resolved at some point, but it's been going on for more than a year now and who knows how long it will drag out.

For any Chicago-area folks out there who may be unaware, the Gene Siskel Film Center kicks off a Resnais series this weekend. I've only seen Marienbad, so I'll be trying to get to as many as I can. Exciting.

Glenn Erickson's review of PROVIDENCE is now up at World Cinema Paradise.

Could anyone recommend a good book on Resnais? Preferably with a fair amount of biographical content and information on failed or abandoned projects. I'm especially curious about his aborted adaptation of Hergé's The Black Island.

Good Resnais site in French:

http://nezumi.dumousseau.free.fr/resnaisbio.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


For example, click on Stavisky for a useful timeline of the film.

Also, in-depth description of events in Hiroshima mon amour.

hearthesilence wrote:Nicely illustrated remembrance by Marvel comic creator Stan Lee, who became a close friend to Resnais and his collaborator on an ambitious science-fiction screenplay called The Monster Maker.

Thanks, that was great! Hard to imagine less likely collaborators.

Funniest bit is when Stan Lee describes his cartoon version of Resnais as "someone who doesn't make any money, whose movies don't get produced."

Resnais was always a big comic book fan. During the same period, he was also working on a project with Jim Steranko (I don't think this is the same as the Stan Lee project), and of course he later directed a (terrible) movie from a Jules Feiffer script. I have a vague recollection that there were more comics-related projects over the year, but they all fell through.

zedz wrote:Resnais was always a big comic book fan. During the same period, he was also working on a project with Jim Steranko (I don't think this is the same as the Stan Lee project), and of course he later directed a (terrible) movie from a Jules Feiffer script. I have a vague recollection that there were more comics-related projects over the year, but they all fell through.

Also La vie est un roman has designs by French comic book artist Enki Bilal.

He also worked with Lee Falk on a film version of Mandrake the Magician, which is prominently featured (among some other comics) in Toute la mémoire du monde. That foundered, according to Resnais, due to casting difficulties—Resnais couldn't think of anyone in the part other than Ronald Colman, who was unavailable on account of being dead. Shawn Levy's biography of Paul Newman claims Newman was later attached, but I think this may be conflating two separate Mandrake projects.

I was wondering:

How was Smoking/No Smoking handled during its theatrical release? Was it shown as one film? Is it considered as just a single film?

They were meant to be shown separately so that the viewer could choose which one to see first (or even just watch one part if they were so inclined for some reason). The Variety review claims that multiplexes in France had separate screens for each film so they could be shown simultaneously.