Director: Alain Resnais
Year Released: 1983
Rating: 1.5
Deliberately irritating Resnais picture about an education conference taking place in a castle and the sexual politics that take place inside - or, if that description doesn't work for you, here's Resnais' take: "The [primary] theme is: Can we create happiness for ourselves without hurting others?" (he also added there's a second theme in there: "Are there any grown-ups?"). I think it's an intellectual hodgepodge that seems more random than deliberate and the characters spontaneously breaking into song mid-scene to be more pretentious than inspired - oh, and I can't say for sure what Fanny Ardant's subplot is all about. Resnais' films have always seemed brave but polarizing - for example, Mon Oncle d'Amerique and Last Year at Marienbad = great, Stavisky and Muriel = obnoxious - and this one's rating clearly indicates which category I'd lump it in. Quoth the auteur once again, "I try to pull in the viewer by using identification and alienation in turn or, more simply, to make them like or dislike what they're watching." I take it he wanted me to dislike this. I did. Bravo, monsieur.
