20 French Films You Must See Before You Die

By Chris Haydon /

14. Last Year At Marienbad (1961)

Film so deceptive and radical that the lines between fact and fiction blur effortlessly. Alain Resnais' seminal masterpiece is a key film in the development of concepts of cinematic modernism; setting up a puzzle that is never resolved. A man meets a woman in a rambling hotel and believes he may have had an affair with her the previous year at Marienbad - or did he? Or was it somewhere else? Deliberately disabling chronology to the point where past, present and future become indistinguishable, Resnais creates an ethereal, unsettling aura by means of stylish framing, elegantly long tracking shots across the hotel's deserted corridors, and strangely detached performances. Equal parts obscure and arresting, Last Year At Marienbad is a fever-dream; its shadowy, entrancing manner leaves audiences divided to this very day: some are fascinated, others entirely baffled. Whichever side of the fence one may sit, it is impossible to deny the impact it leaves.