HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Muriel, or the Time of Return You Remember Nothing
Year: 1963
Director: Alain Resnais
Stars: Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kerien, Nita Klein, Jean-Baptiste Thierree, Claude Sainval, Laurence Badie, Jean Champion, Jean Daste, Martine Vatel, Julien Verdier, Philippe Laudenbach, Nelly Borgeaud, Catherine de Seynes, Gaston Joly, Gerard Lorin
Genre: Drama, WeirdoBuy from Amazon
Rating:  7 (from 1 vote)
Review: Boulogne is a French town by the sea which suffered hugely during the Second World War and was rebuilt practically from the ground up after the bombings that devastated it. With that in mind, is it an old town or a new town - do the memories of the residents who were around during the conflict apply to the current place or a place of the past? For antique furniture dealer Helene (Delphine Seyrig) the matter is less pressing than what she is to do when her guests arrive, two people from Paris, Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Kerien) and his niece whose age gap means they approach life in differing ways. They will be staying with Helene and her stepson Bernard (Jean-Baptiste Thierree).

Or will they? Can we be sure of anything in this purposefully complex story from director Alain Resnais, who reteamed with his Night and Fog writer Jean Cayrol to relate a set of relationships that were very foggy indeed. Even a basic synopsis of Muriel would be almost impossible to draw up, so complicated and tricksy did it get, from the very first second we are subjected to a barrage of imagery that is deliberately disorienting, and yet the impression offered by watching it was that none of this was random, it all had a specific purpose and meaning, and if you were not able to latch onto it first time around, maybe you should try watching it over and over until it made sense.

If that doesn't sound like your idea of fun, well, some films are not here for pure entertainment, assuming Resnais' well nigh impenetrable puzzle was not supposed to be entertaining and was instead a lesson to be learned about the fallibility of the viewer's mental capacities. It's not quite as if Muriel was set on making you feel stupid, it was encouraging a robust questioning of your life as you experienced it, and that included how your memories not merely built up a personal story of how you existed on this Earth, but of other people as well. If you cannot trust your own memories, then how can you justify your assessment of those others who populated the world alongside you?

The acting was no path into what was actually happening, since the entire cast simultaneously appeared to know what was going on and having no clue where any of this was going, with characters absent for great swathes of screen time, then others popping up as if they - and we - are supposed to be aware of who they were and where their relation to everyone else stood. Amidst this was a nagging worry that you have forgotten something crucial that could explain all your problems and even allow you to move on; in that way this was a complement to Resnais' classic Last Year at Marienbad, another film that fretted and worried at the issues of memories lost, unformed or even never having been made, the sheer terror of that being you have no idea which is accurate.

But Muriel had more of a political bent than Marienbad, for there were echoes throughout of two wars that had scarred France in ways that were inescapably affecting the characters, who represented the ordinary French. The Second World War, with all its collaboration and shame, was preying on the mind of Helene, while Bernard had the issues of the Algerian War to cause him discomfort, especially when we discover the woman of the title is not someone we will encounter for she was a victim of torture by French troops, witnessed by Bernard raped and physically assaulted by men he had been led to believe were on the side of right. So this became even more disturbing as the implications of trying to cope with a past that featured behaviour so dreadful were thrown into sharper relief than any of the finer plot points that in any other film would have been the focus. Whether you were up for this challenge or not, and most would not be, its message reflected badly on you the more you considered it. Music by Hans Werner Henze (takes some getting used to).

Aka: Muriel ou le temps d'un retour
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 1535 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: