FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Alain Resnais - Last Year In Marienbad 

I can still see it right in front of my eyes as I stood in line at the Schlüter cinema in Schlüter Strasse to watch Alain Resnais' classic. We had to wait in line, in the evening just before ten and it drizzled a bit. Or did I see the same movie last year? It's easy to blaspheme about Last Year At Marienbad. Nevertheless; you watch the film again - it has you back! Does it still exist at all? Students (dressed in black) queuing in the rain in front of the cinema to see Alain Resnais and then discussing the meaning of Last Year At Marienbad for hours? Hoping to find something like truth in art? Alain Resnais has denied his film a higher meaning, but that didn't stop any of his disciples. So when I watch him on DVD today, what awaits me? The higher consecrations of art or something stupid? Is it even more fun to talk about Resnais than to look at him again? Then the first scenes, full of immense beauty. A hypnotic pull, a mysterious puzzle! The plot resembles a secret and the characters don't reveal themselves either. But that's of secondary importance and I never felt the need to guess these puzzles. Who needs a happy ending? Marienbad plays in a chateau with enormous mirrors and paintings. There are endless corridors and magnificent rooms. The guests are elegantly and dearly dressed. "A" (Delphine Seyrig), a beautiful woman. "X" (Giorgio Albertazzi) with the appearance of a movie star who insists that they saw each other last year and agreed to meet again this year in Marienbad. Finally "M" (Sascha Pitoeff) appears. Lover or husband, at least he has power over "A". "M" looks creepy with his deep gaze. He has something of a vampire. "X" tells us the story, while the other protagonists only recite a line of dialogue here and there. In addition, there is the disturbing organ music by Francis Seyrig, which sounds like a requiem. The plan of "A" and "X" was to meet in the sleeping chamber while "M" was playing. But "A" does not remember. She asks "X" to leave her alone. But "X" continues with his memories (or inventions?). He constructs a story for "A" that she doesn't remember. Was there a shooting? A dead man? Was there? No, he corrects himself. It was different after all. We see them in black and white. Dead. Alive. The camera glides, the figures move slowly and solemnly. Last Year At Marienbad claims they met last year (or not), they had an affair (or not), he killed them (or not). Any questions open? I think that's what the '60s were like: the desire to ask questions, while answers to them amount to defeats. Everything about this film is artificial and offers the possibility to observe human behavior with regenerated attention. Could it be that "X" is the "Auteur"? After all, he speaks to us in the second person, as if he speaks to his creatures and shapes their history. Does he create these characters and then let them rule? Anyway, he is extremely involved in the action and desperately tries to convince "A" of his memories. That's why he designs his characters: he can control them. Make them love him. Unfortunately, characters lead a life of their own. And this is exactly the problem.