Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		5.0

Last Year in Marienbad Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 11, 2018

Alain Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad" (1961) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The supplemental features on the disc include an introduction by film scholar Ginette Vinendeau; Luc Lagier's documentary "In The Labyrinth of Marienbad"; two short films directed by Alain Resnais; new trailer for the recent restoration of the film; and more. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

She

A chic European hotel. A man (Giorgo Albertazzi, The Merchant of Venice) meets a beautiful woman (Delphine Seyrig, Blood on the Lips) and the two begin talking. The man insists that he once had an affair with the woman. He tells her how they met at Marienbad, what they did and how they parted ways.

The woman is puzzled. She does not know the man and is certain that they have never met before. But the man seems to know a lot about her; much of what he utters is true. Who is he? Is it possible that they met, and she forgot about him? Is it possible that they had an affair? She does not believe the man and walks away.

The man follows the woman. He tells her more about their affair. He even explains how they agreed to meet a year after they parted ways. The man also mentions a shooting. Something bad, the man cannot recall exactly what happened. Does the woman remember? No, she does not.

In a secluded corner of the hotel, another man, who has been observing the woman from afar, lures its guests into a card game he insists they could never win. The game -- a series of cards displayed in a certain way are to be removed; the loser always gets the last card -- attracts many, but no one ever wins against the man.

Scripted by French writer Alain Robbe-Grillet (La Jalousie), Alain Resnais' L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad a.k.a. Last Year at Marienbad (1961) is the quintessential art film. It is perplexingly beautiful, impressively maddening, and impossible to fully deconstruct.

Last Year at Marienbad is also a bold exercise in form. Director Resnais intentionally emphasized form over narrative -- contrary to what the Nouvelle Vague promoted -- which confused immensely those who at the time had praised and embraced the fresh straightforwardness and elegant simplicity of Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959) and Jean-Luc Godard's Band of Outsiders (1964). As a result, Last Year at Marienbad effectively split audiences and critics into two groups, one immediately proclaiming that cinema had finally evolved into an art form, and another dismissing the film as a pretentious pseudo-intellectual drivel.

Both groups, however, agreed that Last Year at Marienbad conveyed impressive style. The chic looking hotel, its elegantly dressed guests, as well as the beautiful camerawork separated Last Year at Marienbad from practically every other film made at the time.

Last Year at Marienbad is composed of a number of different segments that belong to a larger story. It is practically impossible, however, to align them in a manner that successfully reveals the mystery surrounding He and She. At best, one could speculate about their relationship.

One of the more interesting segments from Last Year at Marienbad is focused on a card game. A man appears and announces that when he plays cards he never loses. Throughout the film, the man is seen observing She from afar, an act some have interpreted as a sign that he is somehow related to her. Others, however, have insisted that he represents something far more sinister.

This permanent sense of uncertainty is what makes Last Year at Marienbad a film impossible to forget. While viewing it, one is slowly immersed into a constant game of guessing with endless possibilities.

Last Year in Marienbad Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.

The release is sourced from a brand new 4K restoration of the film. Its main menu has interfaces in French, English, and German, which means that France and Germany are getting the exact same technical presentation of the film on Blu-ray.

I have two older releases of the film in my library: the very early North American release that Criterion produced in 2009, and StudioCanal's first European release which also arrived in 2009. I like Criterion's presentation of the film a lot, and I still think that nearly ten years later it looks quite magnificent. However, the new 4K restoration offers small but meaningful improvements that I think folks with larger screens will definitely appreciate. First, density levels are better, and while not by a lot on a larger screen it is something that strengthens fluidity rather significantly. So, expect a 'tighter' overall image with better resolved grain (compare screencapture #3 with the corresponding screencapture from our review of the Criterion release). Second, the new 4K master is very carefully graded. As a result, together with the stronger density the visuals now convey better ranges of nuances (see screencaptures #5 and 19). There are areas where these improvements can be very difficult to spot because the Criterion release still looks great, but as mentioned above on a larger screen the difference is rather obvious. Image stability is excellent. Finally, when compared to the old transfer from the StudioCanal release the new transfer is certainly a lot healthier. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Last Year in Marienbad Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

I did a few random comparisons with the lossless track from the Criterion release and could not hear any improvements to report in our review. However, this does not surprise me because clarity, depth, and stability were already exceptional.

Last Year in Marienbad Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Resnais and Robbe-Grillet: The Wanderers of Imagination - this recent documentary produced by Dominique Maillet explores the conception, production history and unique style of Last Year at Marienbad. Included in it are clips from interviews with Alain Resnais expert Francois Thomas, Catherine Robbe-Grillet, and actress Anna Mouglalis (Novo). In French, with imposed English subtitles. (30 min).

• Trailer - original trailer for the new 4K restoration of Last Year at Marienbad. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• The Wanderers of Imagination - original trailer for the new 4K restoration of Last Year at Marienbad. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• Interview - in this archival featurette, professor Ginette Vincendeau discusses the history of Last Year at Marienbad, the socio-political environment in which the film was conceived, and its style. In English, not subtitled. (19 min).

• Short Films by Alain Resnais - presented here are two short films by Alain Resnais.
  
  1. The Styrene's Song/La chant du styrene (1958), commissioned by Societe Pechiney, was shot in the Pechiney polystyrene factories and features boldly abstract color images and voice-over text by Raymond Queneau. The film also appears on the Criterion Blu-ray release. In French, with English subtitles. (14 min).
  
  2. All the Memory of the World/Toute la memoire du monde (1956) is a poetic piece about the French national library in Paris and the archiving of memory that looks forward to his later films "Hiroshima mon amour" and "Last Year at Marienbad". The film also appears on the Criterion Blu-ray release. In French, with English subtitles. (21 min).

• In the Labyrinth of Marienbad - a film by Luc Lagier deconstructing the film's complex narrative. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (34 min, 480/60i).

• Alain Robbe-Grillet - a fascinating documentary by Frederic Compain focusing on the history of Alain Resnais' film and its association with Alain Robbe-Grillet's work. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (49 min, 480/60i).

Last Year in Marienbad Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

StudioCanal's 4K restoration of Alain Resnais' classic mind-bender Last Year at Marienbad is a beauty, so if this happens to be a film that you like and enjoy revisiting I urge you to consider picking up the studio's new release. Also, if you reside in North America and already have Criterion's early release from 2009, keep in mind that there are additional bonus features that are not included on it. The release we have reviewed here comes from the British branch of StudioCanal, but it has interfaces in German and French, so this tells me that Germany and France are getting the same technical presentation of the film via their local StudioCanal branches. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.