dankrsta

I finally saw Last Year at Marienbad. And it was about time cause I would be missing a truly brilliant film. If any movie can be described as dream-like, this is the one. A man tries to convince a woman that they've met (and possibly fell in love) at the same place last year at Marienbad, but she can't remember or is denying. This is in short a synopsis, a frame. What rises above it is a stunning visual exploration of love, memory and perception.

From the opening scene we hear man's voice reciting words like in a trance: ...as if the floor were still sand and gravel, or stone slabs...over which I advanced once again...through the corridors, salons, galleries... , as the camera hypnotically moves through the corridors, salons, galleries.... The words disappear and appear repeating, like in a loop, on tape, but not quite in the same manner, as the camera moves us through this never ending, unintelligible labyrinth of the corridors, salons, galleries...that confine those in it.

This sets the formal and thematic tone of the film. When the characters, or better, mannequins speak, we only hear fragments of conversations, some words are accented, some fade into background. A scenery and clothes of a woman can change (symbolically between a black and a white dress) in the middle of a conversation. We often hear words and descriptions, but we're shown something else. This repetition, fragmentation, unreliability creates a feeling of a dream, or better yet, a memory and a subjectively, emotionally colored perception.

A lot can be written about different metaphors and meanings, but what is important is that this film challenges the way we see reality and film art itself.

But enough of my babbling. I should just post this great summary I found in IMDb user reviews (credit to riffraf)

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