Last Year at Marienbad
Last Year at Marienbad
At a weekend gathering, a man tries to convince a woman that they had met there and spent some time together the previous year. The woman has no recollection whatsoever of having met this man and is convinced that he is just making all of this up. The more the man talks about their activities the previous year however, the more convincing he becomes. The question remains however - did they meet previously or not?
Mike reviewedOctober 11, 2024
Last Year at Marienbad is a film that is masterfully crafted into perfection and transports the viewer into the cognitive state of the characters
"And again I made my way along these corridors, walking for days and months, walking for years, towards you."
The plot of Last Year at Marienbad doesn't sound all that special, and on itself it really isn't. What makes it interesting is how the plot is communicated to the viewer—through its editing. The editing transports the viewer into the cognitive state of the characters on screen, in a way I have never experienced before.
Last Year at Marienbad has, by far, the best editing I have ever seen. What the editing accomplishes is really hard to explain. It is almost like my subconscious mind can comprehend the editing and follow the plot, but my conscious mind can't—Like remembering a dream.
Quickly you'll notice that the conversations are not bound by time and space. The way the shots are seamlessly, and also not so seamlessly, cut is a great example of this. We see a woman looking in front of her. Then there is a cut at the exact moment she turns around. Her movement is seemless between the two shots, but her environment has changed. It is done so precisely that you would miss it if you weren't paying close attention. There are also scenes where the image does not match the dialogue, or where different moments in time are combined as if they were happening at the same time. It are things like this what makes this film so interesting.
It's not just the editing that transports the viewer into the cognitive state of the characters, it the cinematography as a whole. From the hypnotizing dolly zooms through the corridors, the static and almost abstract blocking of the characters, to the masterfully use of mirrors... Literally everything is done into perfection. Even looking at the background in certain scenes, you get the feeling something isn't adding up. Some backgrounds look like they are endless.
This feeling gets even further enhanced by the characters and their behavior. The consciously absent people throughout the film accurately represent the people in our dreams and memories. For me personally, I tend to remember events more clearly than the reactions and movements of others.
The audio was another aspect that was interesting. The monotonous voice-over, drowned by the musical score that is present on the forefront, is almost like trying really hard to focus to remember what someone said in a distant memory or vague dream. The combination of these two makes the viewer experience the dream-like dialogue, instead of understanding it.
Now back to the plot. Like I said, this isn't something that is all that special in itself, but that doesn't mean it isn't thought-provoking. Throughout the film I was constantly wondering if these two people did or didn't met in the past... and why would the man think they did if they didn't?
Read full review at Letterboxd: Mike_v_E