“[in 1962] he stood at the apex of French cinema, the cerebral master behind Hiroshima mon amour and Last Year at Marienbad. He seemed a pole apart from the antic innovators of the New Wave. Of course, he was a full ten years older than Truffaut, and eight years senior to Chabrol and Godard. He had already won an Academy Award in 1949 (for his short Van Gogh) but didn’t embark on his maiden feature until ten years later. ‘Although I was not fully part of the New Wave because of my age,’ Resnais told me in 2002, ‘there was some mutual sympathy and respect between myself and Rivette, Bazin, Demy, and Truffaut. I did not know Rohmer so much, although I liked what he wrote. Chabrol too, as I shared his passion for Hitchcock and Fritz Lang. So I felt friendly with that team.'” Peter Cowie
“For Resnais, a consummate cinematic craftsman, technique is a way to get past the apparent and to reveal the worlds beneath, the worlds within, the worlds beyond. Yet the vast questions of history and crisis that he has faced throughout his career shouldn’t distract from the deep sensuous and sensual delight that surges through his work. Hiroshima Mon Amour is also a madly erotic film.” Richard Brody
Thursday, October 4 | 8PM Hiroshima, mon amour France 1959 d. Alain Resnais with Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Bernard Fresson, Stella Dassas and Pierre Barbaud. In French with English subtitles. Black and white. 90 m
Thursday, October 11 | 8PM Muriel, ou le Temps d’un retour aka Muriel, or the Time of Return France 1963 d. Alain Resnais with Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée and Nita Klein. In French with English subtitles. Colour. 115 m
Thursday, October 18 | 8PM La Guerre est finie aka The War is Over France 1966 d. Alain Resnais with Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin, Geneviève Bujold and Jean Bouise. In French with English subtitles. Black and white. 121 m
Thursday, October 25 | 8PM Je t’aime, je t’aime aka I Love You, I Love You France 1968 d. Alain Resnais with Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot and Anouk Ferjac. In French with English subtitles. Colour. 91 m
Links: Rive Gauche Cinema Alain Resnais