S4E6: LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD

Enter The Void

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

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