While initially commissioned to be an atomic bomb documentary, Hiroshima Mon Amour became something entirely different. For starters, it’s not a documentary, with director Alain Resnais recruiting author Marguerite Duras to write the screenplay, but it was pretty unusual for a narrative film at the time. It’s a love story, yes, but with such a poetic introduction of the two lovers going back and forth about what they know and don’t know about the bomb, pairing their discussion with archival footage and captivating scoring, Resnais created a new, non-linear cryptic style to capture how memory, grief, and loss irrevocably shaped a generation. Hiroshima Mon Amour was an unexpected shift, eventually becoming one of the most influential films of the French New Wave movement.
The deep conversation between a Japanese architect and a French actress forms the basis of this celebrated French film, considered one of the vanguard productions of the French New Wave. Set in Hiroshima after the end of World War II, the couple -- lovers turned friends -- recount, over many hours, previous romances and life experiences. The two intertwine their stories about the past with pondering the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on the city.
Hiroshima, after World War II. Filming an anti-war film in the city, a French actress has an affair with a Japanese architect, sharing one last night in the city by remembering the devastation of the atomic bomb.
If there was one thing that detracts from the film, it’s that the film primarily focuses on the past life of the French actress. Obviously, given the French director and screenwriter, it made sense. But given the Japan-French co-production, it would have been interesting to see the Japanese architect’s past as well.
Still pretty heartbreaking years later.
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