Hiroshima Mon Amour

1959 first movie

Rating: 18/20

Plot: A French actress has a brief affair with a guy in Hiroshima.

So this was Alain Resnais's first feature film? It's so confident that that's difficult to believe. And so enigmatic. That opening, with the entwined bodies glistening and eventually covered in ashes, is almost coming out and announcing, "Hey, everybody, hold on! This is going to be a masterpiece!" Then, there's haunting and horrifying Hiroshima imagery--a museum tour, a bouquet of bottlecaps, wounded people--and you're almost convinced that this is going to be a documentary with some intercut artsy-fartsy sex scenes.

It is not a documentary about Hiroshima although that public tragedy plays a big role in the understanding of a character's very personal tragedy. No, this is a movie about the "horror of forgetting," a look at memory and the inability to forget, fears of futures, fears of indifference, other unknown fears, dreaming, being unaware of dreams. A character claims, "You think you know, but no. Never." The script is poetic to the point where it's unreal, the kind of dialogue that could only be found in an intellectual's wet dream. But it adds to the lovely mystery. It's a movie you understand with your bowels or those parts of your mind that can't shake the past's regrets or memories of misfortunes. Or maybe you don't understand this one at all? This is another one of those movies that you just let envelop you, one you feel.

The cinematography, by Michio Takahashi (who I've not heard of) and Sacha Vierny (who I have), perfectly adds to that mystery. So does the score, a really good one for the 1950s.

And oh! I almost forgot to mention Emmanuelle Riva, the French actress who plays the French actress. This is her first film, too, and she's just about perfect, a real case of "1,000 women in one" as the guy character says.

Some favorite moments: that opening, of course; the shimmering light in a scene that takes place in a tea room, a possible nod to Casablanca; mirror inner monologue; and a remarkable old lady at a train stations who sits in between the couple as they have a conversation.