S4E6: LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD
Episode description
This week Renan and Bill welcome back season 2 guest Mark Netter to talk about what might just be the original mindfuck movie: 1961's French-language LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, directed by Alain Resnais in collaboration with novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet. If you've never seen Marienbad, worry not, there is nothing we can say about it that will ruin this movie. Even after multiple viewings and a long discussion, we still don't know what it means—but that doesn't stop your hosts from trying! Also discussed: how Bill and Renan failed Marienbad on first viewing; how WWII and the Nazi occupation influenced the filmmakers; what major philosophical rabbit holes the movie opens up; how Resnais staged things to disorient the viewer; what that matchstick game is all about; how it was received in Paris and New York upon release; what Kubrick and Lynch and the Nolans—and even Blur—borrowed from it; plus, the "cameo" by none other than Alfred Hitchcock.
Film links:
- Marienbad at IMDB
- Marienbad at Wikipedia
- Ebert on Marienbad
- Criterion on Marienbad
- Mark Harris on Marienbad
- AV Club on Marienbad
- Senses of Cinema on Marienbad
- NYT, 1961: "Paris Still Stirred..." ($)
- NYT, 1961: "L'Affaire 'Marienbad'" ($)
- NYT, 1961: "Director of Enigmas" ($)
- NYT, 1962: Bosley Crowther review
- Pauline Kael's negative review ($)
- More Kael trashing Marienbad
- WSJ on Marienbad's 50th anniv.
- "Minotaur" theory of Marienbad
- Essay on Descartes and Marienbad
- Night and Fog at Wikipedia
- Nim game on Wikipedia
- Movies inspired by Marienbad
- Blur's "To The End" music video
- 1987 Calvin Klein Obsession TV ad
- LAST YEAR AT THE OVERLOOK
Guest links:
- Mark Netter on Twitter
- Nightmare Code trailer
- Nightmare Code on the web
- Nightmare Code on IMDb
- Nightmare Code on iTunes
- Nightmare Code on Amazon
- Nightmare Code on Facebook
Show links:
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