Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Directed by Alain Resnais. Starring Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Bernard Fresson.

Influential classic from the early days of the French New Wave is post-modern in technique and contrapuntal in rhythm, chronicling an experience and a painful reawakening, fusing the persistent memory of a romance gone wrong to the soul-scarred reconstruction of the devastated title city. Visiting French actress Elle (Riva) has a dalliance with Japanese architect Lui (Okada), but they are burdened by troubled pasts tied to the war and heartbreak. The film opens with an image of (unknown) writhing naked bodies in embrace, glistening with radioactive dust, an innovative way to suggest the intertwined nature of its varying themes of past and present, war and peace, intimacy and shame, atrocity and identity. Can’t avoid meandering down some nonlinear pretentious avenues—parody spoils invention, n’est-ce pas?—even though its most hypnotic passage is the arty documentary-style prologue that practically sweats the cologne of student film clichés. Feature film debut for both director Resnais and actress Riva.

87/100