Synopsis:
At a baroque European hotel, a tall skinny man (Sacha Pitoëff) challenges inhabitants to the game of Nim while an elegant man (Giorgio Albertazzi) continuously insists to a woman (Delphine Seyrig) — perhaps Pitoëff’s spouse — that they had an affair the prior year.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Alain Resnais Films
• Delphine Seyrig Films
• French Films

Review:
Alain Resnais’s follow-up to Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) was this collaboration with writer Alain Robbe-Grillet, resulting in one of the most unusual, provocative, and inscrutable entries in the French New Wave. None of the characters have names, and there is no storyline to speak of other than Albertazzi’s repetitive pursuit (gaslighting?) of luminous Seyrig across various spaces in and around the unnamed hotel.

We have no idea — and (SPOILER) never learn — what’s actually going on here. Albertazzi tells Seyrig things like: “You were waiting for me.” “No,” she replies, “why should I be?” His response: “I’ve waited a long time for you.” Later he says: “You’re running away again.” She replies: “What do you mean? I don’t understand a word.” He responds: “If it were a dream, why should you be afraid?” “Tell me,” she says.

And on and on. Later he adds: “You asked me not to see you. But of course we met, the day after or the next, or the day after that. Perhaps it was by accident. I insisted on your leaving with me. You said it was impossible, of course. But now, you know it’s the only thing left for you to do.” And so we hear, relentlessly, why he believes they were once together and should be again.

Does Seyrig want to believe this is true? It’s not clear — and perhaps not relevant, given that this is Albertazzi’s dream (or reality, or intention), and Seyrig simply plays a key role-of-desire, with Pitoëff showing up every now and then as a not-so-menacing third wheel presence.

To that end, there are two repetitive games going on throughout the film: Pitoëff’s matches with various players (he always wins):

… and Albertazzi’s insistent pursuit of Seyrig. Does he get her in the end? I will leave that to you to find out, since it’s the sole narrative hook of the entire venture.

Watch for a subtle image of Hitchcock on the right during an early sequence; I had to go back to look for it once I learned it was there.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Elegant costumes and production design
  
  
• Sacha Vierny’s cinematography
  

Must See?
Yes, for its historical relevance. Listed as a film with Historical Importance in the back of Peary’s book.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• DVD Savant Review
• Q Network Review
• Criterion Essay