10 Best Films Set In The Pacific War

Directed by French New Wave legend Alain Resnais and written by novelist Marguerite Duras, Hiroshima Mon Amour is a dark, thoughtful love story. A Japanese man - Him - and a French woman - Her - have had a brief relationship, and are now separating. Over 36 hours, they talk about memory, forgetfulness, love, and the atomic annihilation of Hiroshima.

This is Resnais' first full-length feature, and as it followed his Holocaust documentary Night and Fog, the director was no stranger to harrowing subject matter. When it addresses the nuclear destruction, the film focuses in particular on the horrifying effects of the bomb, such as the fact that many of the remains of its victims could not be identified. These are moments of undeniable, visceral horror.

The characters discuss doomed relationships, too. She opens up about her previous affair with a German soldier during the Nazi occupation of France, and details the shocking way that her village punished her for her love. It's gloomy, and knotty, and sad, but it's great stuff.

Hiroshima Mon Amour it is rightly celebrated for its bold visual style, its non-linear storytelling, and for the careful treatment of its complex, sensitive central theme: the meaning of historical memory.