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Poster for Last Year at Marienbad

Last Year at Marienbad

Extraordinary! Hypnotic! Beautiful! Masterful!

1961 · 1h 35m · Not Rated Drama, Romance
Directed by Alain Resnais

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Overview

At a weekend gathering, a man tells a woman that they had spent time there together a year prior. But, the woman has no recollection whatsoever and is convinced that he is simply fabricating the encounter. The more he speaks about their activities the previous year however, the more compelling he becomes. The question remains however – did they meet previously or not?

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
93%
Tomatometer
Fresh

To even talk of a story is nonsensical, since a central aesthetic of the film involves the effects of fantasy, time and subjective memory on human consciousness. Marienbad takes place in a heightened, sci-fi nightmare world where knowing, believing

Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
Fresh

Marienbad is elegantly hermetic, a ravishing waxworks that has stillness at its heart.

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
Fresh

Remains one of cinema's glorious enigmas, endlessly compelling and intriguing.

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Fresh

The movie is what it is -- a sustained mood, an empty allegory, a choreographed moment outside of time, and a shocking intimation of perfection.

J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Fresh

The film's dreamlike cadences, frozen tableaux, and distilled surrealist poetry are too eerie, too terrifying even, to be shaken off as camp. For all its notoriety, this masterpiece among masterpieces has never really received its due.

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

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