Hiroshima Mon Amour

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Hiroshima Mon Amour
original 1959 movie poster
Directed by	Alain Resnais
Produced by	Samy Halfon Anatole Dauman
Written by	Marguerite Duras
Starring	Emmanuelle Riva Eiji Okada Stella Dassas Pierre Barbaud
Music by	Georges Delerue Giovanni Fusco
Cinematography	Michio Takahashi Sacha Vierny
Distributed by	Pathé Films
Release date(s)	June 10, 1959 May 16, 1960
Running time	90 min.
Country	France / Japan
Language	French / Japanese / English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Hiroshima Mon Amour is an acclaimed 1959 film by French film director Alain Resnais, with screenplay by Marguerite Duras about a relationship between a French woman and a Japanese man. It is notable for being one of the first French New Wave films, and for its innovative use of flashbacks.

1 Synopsis
2 Production
3 Significance
4 Film references
5 As a Resnais film
6 Awards
7 Songs inspired by the film
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Hiroshima Mon Amour tells the story of a French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) who performs the role of a nurse in a film being shot in post-war Hiroshima. There she meets a Japanese man (Eiji Okada) and they become lovers. Using flashbacks intercut into the present day love story - the couple's meetings in hotel rooms, restaurants, etc. - the woman tells of her experiences during the Second World War in France, where she was involved with a young German soldier during the German occupation, and the consequences when the war came to an end.

[edit] Production

According to James Monaco, Resnais was originally commissioned to make a short documentary about the atomic bomb, but spent several months confused about how to proceed because he did not want to recreate his 1955 Holocaust documentary Night and Fog. He later went to his producer and joked that the film could not be done unless Marguerite Duras was involved in writing the screenplay.^[1]

The film was a co-production by companies from both Japan and France. The producers stipulated that one main character must be French and the other be Japanese, and also required that the film be shot in both countries employing film crews comprising technicians from each.^[1]

[edit] Significance

Hiroshima Mon Amour has been described as "The Birth of a Nation of the French New Wave" by critic Leonard Maltin, due to its innovative style that helped inspire the movement.^{[citation needed]} New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard described the film's inventiveness as "Faulkner plus Stravinsky" and celebrated its originality, calling it "the first film without any cinematic references".^[2] Filmmaker Eric Rohmer said, "I think that in a few years, in ten, twenty, or thirty years, we will know whether Hiroshima mon amour was the most important film since the war, the first modern film of sound cinema".^[3]

Among the film's innovations is Resnais' bold experiments in using very brief flashback sequences intercut into scenes to suggest the idea of a brief flash of memory. Resnais later used similar effects in Last Year at Marienbad.

[edit] Film references

In his book on Resnais, James Monaco ends his chapter on Hiroshima mon Amour by claiming that the film contains a reference to the classic 1942 film Casablanca:

"Here is an 'impossible' love story between two people struggling with the imagery of a distant war. At the end of this romantic, poignant movie about leave takings and responsibilities, the two fateful lovers meet in a cafe. Resnais gives us a rare establishing shot of the location. 'He' is going to meet 'She' for the last time at a bar called 'The Casablanca' - right here in the middle of Hiroshima! It's still the same old story. A fight for love and glory. A case of do or die. The world will always welcome lovers. As time goes by". ^[1]

[edit] As a Resnais film

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Hiroshima Mon Amour is typical of Resnais' work in theme, narrative structure, and style of sound/image.

Two common themes that recur in Alain Resnais' films are the impact of the past on the individual and the effects of memory and forgetfulness. In Hiroshima Mon Amour, the woman determines that, only with the passing of time, will she forget her experiences in Nevers, France, and she tries to convince the man that the passage of time will also cause both of them to forget their present love affair in Hiroshima. Like other Resnais films, Hiroshima Mon Amour does not adhere to classical cinematic structure. Instead, the woman's memory structures what is told in images, so that present-time experiences involuntarily bring back memories of her German lover.

Resnais usually has no neutral settings in his films, and these settings often serve as symbols for characters; present-day Hiroshima is certainly not one, conjuring up as it does violent and disturbing images which the viewer associates with the destruction caused by the dropping of the atomic bomb. Also, when we are introduced to the characters, we first hear their voices and then see only parts of their bodies (bare shoulders, arms embracing). Only gradually are the lovers revealed.

Resnais's work often combines fiction and documentary, and this recurring element of his work features significantly in Hiroshima Mon Amour with its violent images of the atomic bomb's destruction contrasted with the love story.

[edit] Awards

Hiroshima mon Amour earned an Oscar nomination for screenwriter Marguerite Duras, as well as a special award at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, where the film was excluded from the official selection because of its sensitive subject matter as well as to avoid upsetting the U.S. government.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Songs inspired by the film

The film has inspired several songs. One was written by John Foxx and Billy Currie, and initially recorded and performed by their band Ultravox! in 1977. One recorded version of the song is a romantic electronic ballad, notable for showcasing an early use of a drum machine in popular music. Ultravox! also recorded a different arrangement of the song, in an aggressive punk style. This version was covered by the band The Church.

The heavy-metal band Alcatrazz also recorded a song titled "Hiroshima Mon Amour" on their debut album, No Parole from Rock N' Roll.

In 2003, the New York-based neo-wave band, My Favorite, released "Burning Hearts," which draws upon the main characters in the film.

[edit] References

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