Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

L’Année dernière à Marienbad as Cubist cinema

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14715880.2014.910980

1758-9517

Ellen C. Schwartz,

Cinema and Media Studies

AbstractThis study of L'Année dernière à Marienbad, a film that has perplexed critics since its release in 1961, offers a new way to approach and understand this unusual and most intriguing film through an elucidation of its Cubist elements. Three major themes are isolated: the search for the reality underlying surface appearance; the presentation of this truth in its component parts which are broken up and reassembled in modified and repetitive patterns dictated by compositional requirements; and a new manner of presenting time, involving simultaneity and multiple viewpoints. These themes compare closely to those of Cubist painting, the ideas of which have arguably been a significant influence on the filmmakers Robbe-Grillet and Resnais in their creation of Marienbad. Notes1. For an excellent annotated bibliography on the film, see Van Wert (Citation1977, 45–190). A large collection of criticism of the film may be found in Kline (Citation1992).2. The most recent exploration of Cubist painting was an exhibition of the work of Georges Braque at the Grand Palais, Paris, documented by a catalogue (Leal Citation2013). The terms Analytic and Synthetic Cubism seem to have originated in comments by Juan Gris in a 1920 conversation with Kahnweiler; see Kahnweiler (Citation1946, 144). On the relationship of Cubist art to other art forms, see Audry (Citation1958), Kamber (Citation1971) and Lawder (Citation1975). Jaffé-Freem (Citation1966), on Robbe-Grillet, treats a closely related subject with a similar methodology, although she does not discuss his films. Her points of comparison are, for the most part, quite different, exploring three themes: absence of depth, the fixed or static nature of his creations, and ambiguity, thus complementing the opinions put forth here. A literary version of the repetition of forms, giving rise to a different presentation of reality, may be found in the work of Marcel Proust in his work À la recherche du temps perdu, with its initial publication in 1913, during the Cubist period in the arts. And Proust has been offered as a precursor to this type of cinematic vision (Nantet Citation1958).3. It is difficult to assess the contributions of each artist in the making of Marienbad. Robbe-Grillet states in his introduction to the published screenplay that their work was done separately, yet with a complete harmony of intentions (see Robbe-Grillet Citation1962, 8). However, Armes (Citation1981, 27–29) disputes what he calls the myth of perfect accord between writer and the director; he attempts to analyze the contributions of each artist. Kline (Citation1992, 66–67) also challenges this supposed total accord, and even links the disagreement to the persuasion scenario of the film. And Bogue (Citation2003, 141) refers to Robbe-Grillet's complaint that their differing sensibilities manifested in Resnais imposing greater continuity on the film than the author wished.4. All these phrases are translated as 'Remember?' in the English-language version of the script (Robbe-Grillet Citation1962; translation by Richard Howard).5. The triangular form has also been linked to the triangular relationship among the film's principals, A, X and M; see Sweet (Citation1981, 37). The use of the triangle/pyramid has, in fact, captured the public eye as a major motif in the film. When a Marienbad game was marketed in France in 1962 for playing the game of M, the pieces were pyramidal and the pyramid-shaped container was decorated with the well-known photograph of the garden shown in Figure 7, in which the similarly pyramidal bushes are prominent. Critic Roger Ebert even links M's appearance, describing 'his sunken triangular face' (Ebert Citation2008).6. Cayrol, a former Resistance fighter and survivor of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, was a novelist and poet whose modernist approach could be said to be a precursor of the Nouveau Roman (Basuyaux Citation2009). He had previously collaborated with Resnais on Nuit et brouillard.