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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Muriel, 4 April 2009
I have seen Muriel twice, first on the R1 DVD (Koch Lorber). This later Eureka/MoC R2 release differs by having better picture and a nice booklet. The colors and details are the same, but the aspect is correct on MoC, as the picture is slightly squeezed on the R1. (Also the subtitles on the R1 are yellow, which I find a little disturbing.)
The picture shows signs of age, it is not especially sharp and rather grainy. But the colors are vivid. Despite this I guess the quality of the transfer is as good as it can get (the R1 shows he same grain). And I watched it on a projector without any problems.
The Booklet contains two essays, the first (by B.Kite) is more theoretical and a little fluffy, and the other (by Anna Thorngate) sets the film in it's historical context and gives a more straightforward (and better) analysis. As a complement, I can recommend Richard Neuperts excellent book "A History of the French New Wave Cinema", where Muriel is analysed and set in the context of the 'new wave' and Alain Resnais other films.
Muriel, ou le Temps d'un retour came out 1963, shortly after the end of the algerian war. It takes place in Boulogne, a city which met a lot of destruction in WW2, and then rapidly modernized with big functionalist concrete buildings. Here Helene lives with her son Bernard, in an apartment where "everything is for sale" as Helene works as a antique dealer. They are visited by Alfonse, a lover of Helene since long ago. And Francoise, Alfonse's lover. The film then follows the characters during a period (we don't know for how long). Some themes of this complex film is memory, identity, and fragmentation (Helene's apartment is fragmented, as is the city and actually the relations of the characters and the characters themselves).
As both essays in the booklet point out, in Muriel Resnais doesn't take the subjective perspective of any of the characters, but rather a "collective point of view". (Thorngate). It's like the action and the characters are viewed through a mind that is zooming in and out and changing location all the time, maybe trying to get a grasp of it all. Sometimes in the film the camera jumps through the city (Boulogne), watches something else (objects, a building) while the characters talk, and sometimes we are shown a sequence of rapid and seemingly random cuts of what is happening to the characters on different locations. Like someone playing fast forward and skipping through chapters of a DVD. Interesting is how when Bernard shows his film from the war, the tempo slows down. Maybe this is the heart of the film. Also, different to Resnais other films Marienbad and Hiroshima, there are no actual flashbacks in time (but maybe some fast-forwarding?).
Well, this is a complex film with a rich content and a special form that can be seen several times. It's better to see it than read about it. But Muriel is no "easy" film with a clear narrative where everything is explained. If you like french cinema, or like the other films by Resnais, you will probably enjoy this.
All in all, that MoC have released Muriel, an important piece of cinema and part of the french new wave, on a high quality R2 DVD with a nice booklet is reason to buy. It would have been nice to have some more extra material, some interview with Resnais or commentary, but you can't get everything. Highly recommended to anyone interested in cinema!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Algerian grit in French oyster, 1 Jun 2009
This film situates the often complex,.absract strains Of Resnais in a more urban post-war environment.Through the use of jarring jump cuts and frenetic montage sequences he renders what is banal,ordinary in these character's lives as extraordinary through visual cubism.We are dealing with memory,its vagaries, its changes in the lives of the 2 main characters,Helene and Bernard,her step-son.The trauma of the 2nd World War and the Algerian War in terms of their experiences intrude in and distort their present existence.they with a 3rd character,Alphonse one of her old loves whom she invites to stay,try to relive or alter that past.Helene and Bernard are living in the past,she through fantasy and he very much through demons,an atrocity he helped commit in the Algerian War against Muriel,the Algerian woman of the title.Boulogne is a perfect location for rebuilding a dislocated past.This film has an amazing pace as Resnais explores time to examine past experiences and their effect on the present.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
an exploration in film cubism, 5 May 2009
I bought this film because so many reviews referred to it as a flawed masterpiece. Its is suppose to be a study of people haunted by war and other traumas and how it impacts their life and condition their perceptions. The main character, a middle age antique dealer in a provincial town wrote to an old lover at a whim, and he turned up with a girl he claims is his niece. Then their tales and lives unravel. The beginning and end of the film is the same day, but in the middle, somehow the narrative stretches into two weeks, with flashbacks from distant past. If that weren't confusing enough, Resnais also film shots as seen from characters pt of view, ie distorted, and sometimes he uses different actors to play the same part. This master of the dolly shot decided in this film to use only steady camera ( ie Ozu style) and he manages to turn a calming device into something that confuses even more by seldom using group shots even when they are together.
The reason none of the above works is because its too much a head game, and nothing came from the heart. Resnais decided to illustrate private worlds and states of mind by weird constructions rather than just letting it show and tell naturally.
Do see it, as its interesting as a period piece ( the sets and streets and superb cast are vividly de son temps) and as an experiment, but don't expect anything remotely enjoyable.
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