Muriel (1963)

Editor's Note Director Alain Resnais collaborated with novelist Jean Cayrol in this introspective drama of four lives linked by haunting memories.

	Delphine Seyrig
	Jean-Baptiste Thierree
	Jean-Pierre Kerien
	Nita Klein
	Alain Resnais - Director

In the haunting drama "Muriel," French filmmaker Alan Resnais continues his exploration of and fascination with memory and the impact of past events on people's present lives.| Helene is a lonely widow who lives with her stepson, Bernard, in Boulogne. Into their lives walk Alphonse, a lover from her past, and Francoise, who he claims is his niece but is actually his mistress. While Helene and Alphonse are obsessed with their past relationship, Bernard is troubled by his memory of a girl whose brutal death he witnessed while he was fighting in the Algerian War.| As in his prior films, Resnais tells the story in a dream-like, stylized fashion. Film Comment
"[F]ew films have ever been so devoted to re-creating the painful shifts of memory, as it continually moves from one temporal plane to the next." 03/01/2007 p.76

New York Times
"From today's perspective MURIAL looks like the highest accomplishment of his early work." 04/06/2007 p.E6

Sight and Sound
"Dense and challenging but also potent and accessible, it virtually demands repeat viewings." 06/01/2007 p.90