1. 1959 Scénario 1960 Marguerite Duras (1914-1996) Alain Resnais (1922- ) Hiroshima mon Amour… history, trauma, memory, love, art and renewal 1959 Scénario 1960

4. Duras, Resnais and the Nouvelle Vague Cinéma d’auteur (Astruc, la caméra-stylo, L’Ecran Français, mai 1948: "Du Stylo à la caméra et de la caméra au stylo")

5. The ‘new wave’ and ‘films for grandad’… some contradictions The personal and the historical Beyond documentary - art and life - in the street or in the head?

6. Break with films grounded in French tradition (e.g. plots of great novels) – need to make the cinema relevant politically, to deal with everyday events, socially difficult themes such as sexuality and crime, to film cheaply, on location, and to use revolutionary techniques Claude ChabrolClaude Chabrol Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard Jacques RivetteJacques Rivette Eric RohmerEric Rohmer Francois TruffautFrancois Truffaut Roger VadimRoger Vadim Agnes Varda…Agnes Varda…

7. The ‘new novel’ ? The ‘new novel’ ? The New Novel or Nouveau Roman refers to a movement in French literature of the 50’s and 60’s which called into question the traditional modes of literary realism.

8. The new novel is characterized by an austere narrative tone which often eschews metaphor and simile in favour of precise physical descriptions, a heightened sense of ambiguity with regards to point of view, radical disjunctions of time and space, and self-reflexive commentary on the processes of literary composition. Alain Robbe-Grillet, Michel Butor, Marguerite Duras, Nathalie Sarraute

9. Duras’ life and background A perpetual exile…The colonial childhood - her departure for France – marriage, loss and recognition – her lasting reputation as a writer…A perpetual exile…The colonial childhood - her departure for France – marriage, loss and recognition – her lasting reputation as a writer… Prolific output… 1943-1989 – Le Marin de Gibraltar (1952); Moderato Cantabile (1958); Hiroshima mon Amour (1958/1960); Le Vice- Consul (1966); India Song (1973/1975); L’Amant (1984)… Prolific output… 1943-1989 – Le Marin de Gibraltar (1952); Moderato Cantabile (1958); Hiroshima mon Amour (1958/1960); Le Vice- Consul (1966); India Song (1973/1975); L’Amant (1984)…

10. Alain Resnais’ unique career… ‘ ‘ He marks the transition from a classic conception of the cinema towards its involvement with the ‘new novel’ […] He is an inheritor of ‘poetic realism’ (Carné, Renoir) whilst being at the same time the initiator of a spectacular new movement which believes in the all-powerful influence of dreams and the creative imagination’ (Train 2002 – www.ecrannoir ) www.ecrannoir

11. Hiroshima mon Amour A controversial beginning – reception at Cannes Festival of 1959… - fear of offending the Americans – went on to win the prize for the best international film of the year in New York in 1960… Politics… the relationship between text and image (‘un film littéraire…’) … seen by some as pretentious… but by most as an astonishing, entirely original, masterpiece.

12. ‘ ‘I think that some years from now, in ten, twenty or maybe thirty years, we shall know whether Hiroshima is the most important film since the war, the first truly modern film of the talking era, or whether it is perhaps less important than we believe it to be today. Today there can be no doubting its extreme importance as a film, but it may be judged more important still with the passage of time’ Jacques Rivette ‘New Wave’ Director Cahiers du Cinema (1959)

13. Hiroshima – a work of protest? The contemporary cultural context – the imminent threat of nuclear war…The contemporary cultural context – the imminent threat of nuclear war… Art and ‘engagement’- the belief at the time that art should have a political role, should ‘make a statement’ and change minds (cf Sartre)…Art and ‘engagement’- the belief at the time that art should have a political role, should ‘make a statement’ and change minds (cf Sartre)… The problem of certainty – the complex post-war environment created a climate of uncertainty as to which was the right choice between Communism and the Western Alliance. By placing love, intolerance, war and politics alongside each other, the film raises questions about the dangers of nuclear war and war in general when set against transcendent human experience such as love, memory, loss and forgiveness…The problem of certainty – the complex post-war environment created a climate of uncertainty as to which was the right choice between Communism and the Western Alliance. By placing love, intolerance, war and politics alongside each other, the film raises questions about the dangers of nuclear war and war in general when set against transcendent human experience such as love, memory, loss and forgiveness… Resnais and Duras both wanted to produce a film which went beyond a purely political statement.Resnais and Duras both wanted to produce a film which went beyond a purely political statement.

14. References reveal the distinction between authentic protest and charade? – the film subverts the truth value of the documentary, raising the issue of how history and political protest should be represented… ‘Impossible to talk about HIROSHIMA. All one can do is talk about the impossibility of talking about HIROSHIMA’ (9/10)‘Impossible to talk about HIROSHIMA. All one can do is talk about the impossibility of talking about HIROSHIMA’ (9/10) ‘An enlightening film about peace has just been completed. Not at all a ridiculous film, but just ANOTHER film.’ (11/14)‘An enlightening film about peace has just been completed. Not at all a ridiculous film, but just ANOTHER film.’ (11/14) ‘All HIROSHIMA will be there, as it always is when the cause of Peace is at stake. In short, a baroque parade…’ (11/14)‘All HIROSHIMA will be there, as it always is when the cause of Peace is at stake. In short, a baroque parade…’ (11/14)

15. Protest as incantation… ‘Against whom the anger of entire cities? The anger of entire cities, whether they like it or not, against the inequality set forth as a principle by certain people against other people, against the inequality set forth as a principle by certain races against other races, against the inequality set forth as a principle by certain classes against other classes’ (22/31)

16. Beyond the documentary… ‘This is one of the principal goals of the film: to have done with the description of horror by horror, for that has been done by the Japanese themselves, but to make this horror rise again from these ashes by making it indistinguishable from a love that will necessarily be special and capable of evoking “wonder”, one that will be more credible than if it had occurred anywhere else in the world, that is in a place that death had not preserved’ (9/11)

17. Memory, forgetting and our relationship with the past – some of the riddles of Hiroshima… What is the link between the two love affairs and the horrors of Hiroshima?What is the link between the two love affairs and the horrors of Hiroshima? How can we understand what we have not experienced ourselves?How can we understand what we have not experienced ourselves? How can we forget what we do not wish to remember?How can we forget what we do not wish to remember? How can we bear to forget what we have lived and lost yet want always to remember?How can we bear to forget what we have lived and lost yet want always to remember?

18. Some references… ‘Oh it’s horrible. I’m beginning to remember you less clearly […] I’m beginning to forget you. I tremble at the thought of having forgotten so much love’ (64/99) ‘You think you know. And then no you don’t. Learning the exact duration marked by time. Knowing how time, sometimes, rushes forward then its slow, futile backward drift and that you have to carry on just the same, no doubt that too is how we acquire intelligence’ (79/109-10)

19. The nature of love as represented by Duras… intenselife-affirmingtransgressiveviolent tinged with madness non-conformist identified with ill-doing ephemeralpainful carries with it the knowledge of its own mortality its death or suppression equated with the extermination of life… as at Hiroshima hence the link between ‘la tonte’ (shaving of womens’ heads) and the nature of mass-cruelty

20. ‘Between two beings as totally distant from each other as it is possible to be: geographically, philosophically, historically, economically, racially etc., HIROSHIMA will be the common ground (perhaps the only common ground in the world?) where the universal properties of eroticism, love and misfortune will appear in a merciless light’ (9/12)

21. ‘In a few years, when I’ve forgotten you and, through force of habit, have lived other experiences, like this one, I will think of you as I would of the forgetfulness of love itself. I will think of this adventure as of the horror brought about by forgetfulness. I know this already.’ (68/105)

22. Yet, despite its symbolic density, Hiroshima is psychologically - and literally - realistic… the love affair as therapy The French woman’s hesitation regarding the outcome of the affair the truth of their gestures and expressions

23. Hiroshima mon amour - a technical masterpiece mise-en-scene/framing and montage/editingmise-en-scene/framing and montage/editing receding perspective/lignes fuyantes, close- ups/gros plans, cuts/coupures, slow panning shots/travellingreceding perspective/lignes fuyantes, close- ups/gros plans, cuts/coupures, slow panning shots/travelling mixing of image, music and dialoguemixing of image, music and dialogue the lyrical beauty of the languagethe lyrical beauty of the language the quality of the actingthe quality of the acting

24. ‘No exchange of vows. Not another single gesture. All they will do is address each other once more by name. Which names? NEVERS, HIROSHIMA. For in each other’s eyes, they are in fact no longer anyone. They are merely names of places, names which have lost their meaning as names. It is as though the disaster of a shaven woman at NEVERS and the disaster at HIROSHIMA corresponded to each other EXACTLY’. (13/17)

25. ‘une histoire de quatre sous’ …? or a consummate allegorical meditation on the relationship between love, loss, personal trauma and the problems for humankind of expiating historical catastrophe…? or both…?