Time, Place and Memory
This illustrated talk will look at Alain Resnais’s earlier films (‘Night and Fog’, ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’, ‘Last Year in Marienbad’, ‘Muriel’), and how they deal with the recurring themes of trauma, time and memory while breaking the rules of conventional narrative cinema.
We will further discuss Resnais’s refusal of cinematic naturalism (‘Providence’, 1977; ‘My American Uncle’, 1980), and examine how other cultural forms influenced his work, from experimentations with the theatrical form (‘Mélo’; ‘Smoking/No Smoking’; ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet!’), to popular songs (‘Same Old Song’) and even the operetta (‘Not on the Lips’).
Martine Pierquin has taught French cinema at Edinburgh and Stirling universities. She is a curator for French Film Festival UK’s short film programme
NB. Preceding the talk, we are screening separately the complete ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ in the Auditorium - Fri 12 Aug at 11:00.