Rating: 4.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2024 | 10/52 | New York Film Festival Favorites
CW // Implied torture and assault
Fractured cinematography — pieces of memory overwhelming and contradicting each other.
Bernard puts away his cleaned gun before going to see Muriel. Helene says he must be back home that night to see Alphonse.
Bernard is back home from Algeria.
Helene owns an antique store in Boulogne. They eat off of sold plates and drink from expensive crystal glasses.
Helene meets Alphonse at the train station. Alphonse is an old lover of Helene’s. Alphonse introduces his niece Françoise to Helene.
Bernard deflects — busy, unable to sit still.
Helene leaves Alphonse to go gambling with Claude.
Bernard leaves Françoise to see Muriel. He tries to get Françoise to wait in a cafe for him.
Bernard dates a woman named Marie-Do.
Alphonse carries photos from a trip to Algiers — souvenirs is the French word for memories.
I can't get used to the idea that it's over.
If you’ve seen Last Year at Marianbad, you understand that words can only do so much to convey the filmmaking. That said, this is not as complex and distancing as Marianbad. Its play with time and place doesn’t interfere with your ability to understand the narrative — it enhances the thematic material.
Am I supposed to be a reminder?
Who is Muriel? Muriel was a woman held captive while Bernard was at war. It wasn’t her real name, but it was what everyone called her. She had to talk before midnight or else. When they were done with her, she couldn’t have talked if she wanted to.
Wait for the cliff to recede and the building to collapse into ruins.
The chef here was deported. If he had died, we would have lost the recipe
Watch lobster boiled alive (“you get used to it”).
Helene is gambling her life away, trying to forget.
Alphonse is in Boulogne, looking for a job. His wife, Simone, is at home.
We cannot keep people in our lives as souvenirs.