(France/1961) Directed by Alain Resnais

In a strange, grand European hotel, a man tries to convince an initially disbelieving woman that they’d met the year before. As his remembrances become more and more detailed and his recollections begin to shift ever so slightly, so do the film’s haunting images, the characters’ clothing, even the rooms which they enter and exit – and we’re forced to decide for ourselves which memories are real, which are fantasy, and, in fact, come to our own conclusion on just what did happen last year at Marienbad. A film that continues to be argued over, analyzed, parodied and revered, Alain Resnais’ groundbreaking experiment in dissecting the process of thought itself was described by Time as “the most monstrously elaborate enigma ever conceived in terms of cinema.” Repeated viewings reveal more layers of Alain Robbe-Grillet’s Oscar-nominated screenplay each time – and the film is at last available for the first time in years in a stunning new widescreen 35mm print. Grand Prize, 1961 Venice Film Festival.  In French with English subtitles (94 min.) Thu. at 7:30; Fri. and Sat. at 9:30; Sun. at 1:00

“Highly seductive… A masterpiece of masterpieces.” -Jonathan Rosenbaum, Film Comment