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''Muriel'' (french: Muriel ou le Temps d'un retour, link=no, literally ''Muriel, or the Time of a Return'') is a 1963 French
psychological drama Psychological drama or psychodrama is a sub-genre of drama that places emphasis on psychological elements. It often overlaps with other genres such as crime, fantasy, black comedy, and science fiction, and it is closely related with the psychologi ...
film directed by
Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included ...
, and starring
Delphine Seyrig Delphine Claire Beltiane Seyrig (; 10 April 1932 – 15 October 1990) was a Lebanese-born French actress and film director. She came to prominence in Alain Resnais's 1961 film ''Last Year at Marienbad'', and later acted in films by Francois ...
,
Jean-Pierre Kérien Jean-Pierre Kérien (15 March 1912 – 9 April 1984) was a French film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1937 and 1979. Filmography References External links * 1912 births 1984 deaths French male film actors 20th-century Fr ...
, Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée, and Nita Klein. Its plot follows a middle-aged widow in
Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
and her stepson—recently returned from military service in the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
—who are visited by her ex-lover and his new young girlfriend. It was Resnais's third feature film, following ''
Hiroshima mon amour ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (, lit. , ), is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by French director Alain Resnais and written by French author Marguerite Duras. Resnais' first feature-length work, it was a co-production between France and Japan, and ...
'' (1959) and ''
L'Année dernière à Marienbad ''Last Year at Marienbad'' (french: L'Année dernière à Marienbad; released in the United Kingdom as ''Last Year in Marienbad'') is a 1961 Left Bank film directed by Alain Resnais from a screenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet. Set in a palace in a p ...
'' (1961), and in common with those films it explores the challenge of integrating a remembered or imagined past with the life of the present. It also makes oblique reference to the controversial subject of the Algerian War, which had recently been brought to an end. ''Muriel'' was Resnais's second collaboration with
Jean Cayrol Jean Cayrol (; 6 June 1911 – 10 February 2005) was a French poet, publisher, and member of the Académie Goncourt born in Bordeaux. He is perhaps best known for writing the narration in Alain Resnais's 1955 documentary film, ''Night and Fog''. H ...
, who had also written the screenplay of '' Nuit et brouillard'' (''Night and Fog'') (1956).


Plot

Set over a two-week period in 1962, Hélène is a middle-aged widow who runs an antique business from her own apartment in
Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
. She resides with her stepson, Bernard, who is haunted by the memory of a girl named Muriel whom he helped
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
and murder while doing military service in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. Hélène is visited by a past lover, Alphonse, whom she meets at the local train station one night. She finds he is accompanied by Françoise, a young aspiring actress whom Alphonse introduces as his niece, though she is in truth his young lover. That night, Françoise and Bernard go to walk around town, while Hélène and Alphonse reminisce at the apartment before she is met by her friend, Roland de Smoke, who arrives to escort her to the local
casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
. Left alone at Hélène's apartment, Alphonse finds Bernard's journal, in which he writes about Muriel, and how since her death he is "no longer alive." Meanwhile, Françoise and Bernard visit the seaside, where Françoise admits to Bernard that she is in fact Alphonse's girlfriend. Bernard abruptly leaves Françoise to wander the streets alone, and goes to spend the night in a seaside shack he often stays at. When Hélène returns to her apartment, she finds Alphonse angered by her leaving him alone, which stirs up several painful memories where she left him alone. Later, Alphonse admits that, during his military service, he had intended to marry Hélène, but she had refused his invitation to live with him in Algiers. Françoise returns to the apartment after the two have retired for the evening. At dawn, after tensions have calmed, Hélène and Alphonse spend a pleasant morning together strolling through the city, imagining the life they could have had together. Bernard again encounters Françoise on the street while riding his bicycle, and later briefly speaks with his girlfriend, who informs him she has been admitted to university in
Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
. Alphonse later strolls along the seaside with Françoise, who tells him that she must leave him when they return to
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. Hélène and Alphonse have lunch at a cafe, where they encounter Robert, whom Bernard served alongside in the war. She urges Robert to speak with Bernard, whom she worries has become stunted after returning from the war. Ernest, Alphonse's brother-in-law, arrives in town, demanding he return to his wife—this revelation shocks Hélène. Later, it is revealed that Bernard has murdered Robert. In the midst of the series of troubling events, Alphonse's wife, Simone, arrives at Hélène's empty apartment. She walks from room to room, but finds no one there.


Structure

The story takes place over 15 days in September–October 1962. The published screenplay, which is divided into 5 acts, provides specific dates and times for each scene, but these are not apparent in the film. An extended sequence takes place on the first day (Act 1, a section lasting about 45 minutes: the introductions of Alphonse and his 'niece' Françoise to Hélène and Bernard, their first meal together, and then their separate evening pursuits). Another long sequence takes place on the last day (Act 5: the Sunday lunch and its revelations, and the scattering of the principal characters in their different directions). The intervening days (Acts 2–4) are represented in a series of fragmented scenes, which are chronological but seldom consecutive.Jean Cayrol, ''Muriel: scénario et dialogues''. (Paris: Seuil, 1963.)


Cast

*
Delphine Seyrig Delphine Claire Beltiane Seyrig (; 10 April 1932 – 15 October 1990) was a Lebanese-born French actress and film director. She came to prominence in Alain Resnais's 1961 film ''Last Year at Marienbad'', and later acted in films by Francois ...
, as Hélène Aughain, a widowed antique dealer, about 40 years old, who retains obsessive memories of her love affair with Alphonse when she was 16, and the unexplained manner of their separation in 1939. *
Jean-Pierre Kérien Jean-Pierre Kérien (15 March 1912 – 9 April 1984) was a French film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1937 and 1979. Filmography References External links * 1912 births 1984 deaths French male film actors 20th-century Fr ...
, as Alphonse Noyard, Hélène's sometime lover, who says he has spent many of the intervening years in Algeria running a bar. * Nita Klein, as Françoise, an aspiring young actress having an affair with the much older Alphonse, and biding her time before leaving him. *
Jean-Baptiste Thierrée Jean-Baptiste Thierrée (born 2 May 1937) is a French actor and circus performer. He is married to Victoria Chaplin and is the father of Aurélia Thierrée and James Thierrée. In theatre, Thierrée appeared on stage in ''Les Coréens'', directe ...
, as Bernard, Hélène's stepson, recently returned from doing his military service in Algeria where his role in the torture of a girl called Muriel has left him with traumatic memories. * Martine Vatel, as Marie-Do, the intermittent girl-friend of Bernard who is ready to set off for a new life in South America. * Claude Sainval, as Roland de Smoke, a Boulogne property-developer and amorous friend of Hélène. *
Laurence Badie Laurence Badie (born 15 June 1928) is a French actress. She appeared in more than one hundred films since 1952. Selected filmography References External links * 1934 births Living people French film actresses {{France-actor- ...
, as Claudie, a friend of Hélène with whom she shares a taste for gambling. *
Jean Champion Jean Champion (9 March 1917 – 23 May 2001) was a French film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1962 and 1996. Partial filmography * ''Cléo from 5 to 7'' (1962) - Le patron du café (uncredited) * '' The Longest Day'' (1962) - Frenc ...
, as Ernest, the brother-in-law of Alphonse. *
Philippe Laudenbach Philippe Laudenbach (born 31 January 1936) is a French actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films since 1963. Career Nephew of Pierre Fresnay (born Peter Laudenbach), Philippe is formed to the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts. He ...
, as Robert, a fellow-soldier with Bernard in Algeria, now an active member of the
OAS OAS or Oas may refer to: Chemistry * O-Acetylserine, amino-acid involved in cysteine synthesis Computers * Open-Architecture-System, the main user interface of Wersi musical keyboards * OpenAPI Specification (originally Swagger Specification) ...
. *
Françoise Bertin Françoise Bertin (23 September 1925 – 26 October 2014) was a French actress. She appeared in over 125 films since 1961. Among these were five films directed by Alain Resnais: ''Last Year at Marienbad'', '' Muriel'', '' The War Is Over'', ''I ...
, as Simone *
Jean Dasté Jean Dasté, born Jean Georges Gustave Dasté, (18 September 1904 in Paris, France – 15 October 1994 in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, Loire, France)Interview with François Thomas, included with Arte DVD of ''Muriel'' (2004). Cayrol, though primarily a poet and novelist, was himself interested in film-making and editing, and he produced a screenplay for ''Muriel'' in which nearly all of the complex editing sequences were outlined.James Monaco, ''Alain Resnais: the rôle of imagination''. (London: Secker & Warburg, 1978.)


Filming

Filming took place during 12 or 13 weeks between November 1962 and January 1963, the longest shooting time of any of Resnais's films. Location shooting was done in
Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
, which is almost another character in the film, a town whose centre has seen rapid rebuilding after extensive war damage and which is presented as both ancient and modern, uncertainly balanced between its past and future.Robert Benayoun, ''Alain Resnais, arpenteur de l'imaginaire''. (Paris: Ramsay, 2008.) The scenes in Hélène's apartment where most of the action takes place were filmed on a set at Studios Dumont in Épinay, but Resnais asked the designer Jacques Saulnier to reconstruct exactly a real apartment which he had seen in Boulogne, even down to the colour of the woodwork. The décor of the apartment is modern but, because of Hélène's business as an antique dealer, it is full of furniture of different styles and periods which continually change through the film. Resnais explained his intentions: "We used everything that could give this impression of incompleteness, of unease. ...The challenge of the film was to film in colour, that was essential, never to move the camera position, to film a week behind the
ime of the Ime is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the east side of the river Mandalselva, along the European route E39 highway. Ime is an eastern suburb of the town of Mandal. Ime might be considered ...
scenario, to invent nothing, and to do nothing to make it prettier". There were around 800 shots in the film instead of the usual 450; the many static camera set-ups were time-consuming; and it was only in the final shot of the film that the camera moved. Music for the film was written by
Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...
who picked up the visual principle of multiple fixed camera shots by adopting a musical style which mirrored the fragmentation of the film structure.François Thomas, ''L'Atelier de Alain Resnais''. (Paris: Flammarion, 1989.) A series of verses, by Cayrol, are sung throughout the film (by
Rita Streich Rita Streich (18 December 192020 March 1987) was one of the most admired and recorded lyric coloratura sopranos of the post-war period. Biography Rita Streich was born in Barnaul, southern Siberia, in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Repu ...
); the relative lack of clarity of the words on the soundtrack was attributed by Resnais to the effect of having a German composer (who at the time did not speak French) setting French words. The full words of the verses are included in the published screenplay of the film. The song "Déja", with words about the passing of time, which is sung unaccompanied by the character of Ernest near the end of the film, was written for a musical review in 1928 by Paul Colline and Paul Maye. It was one of several elements in the film which were prompted by Resnais's interest in "music-hall" and the theatre.


Themes

At a press conference at the Venice Film Festival in 1963, Resnais said that his film depicted "the malaise of a so-called happy society. ...A new world is taking shape, my characters are afraid of it, and they don't know how to face up to it." ''Muriel'' has been seen as part of a 'cinema of alienation' of the 1960s, films which "betray a sudden desperate nostalgia for certain essential values". A sense of disruption and uncertainty is constantly emphasised, not least by the style of jump-cutting between events. "The technique of observing absolute chronology while simultaneously following a number of characters and treating even casual passers-by in the same manner as the main characters gives rise to a hallucinatory realism." At the centre of the film lies the specific theme of the
Algerian war The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, which had only recently been brought to its troubled conclusion, and which it had hitherto been almost impossible for French film-makers to address in a meaningful way. (Godard's film about the war, ''
Le Petit Soldat ''Le petit soldat'' () is a French film, written and directed by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard in 1960, but not released until 1963. It was Godard's third film released with Anna Karina, who starred as Véronica Dreyer alongside Michel Subor (a ...
'', had been banned in France in 1960 and was not shown until 1963. Also in 1960, Resnais had been one of the signatories of the
Manifesto of the 121 The Manifesto of the 121 (french: Manifeste des 121, full title: ''Déclaration sur le droit à l’insoumission dans la guerre d’Algérie'' or ''Declaration on the right of insubordination in the Algerian War'') was an open letter signed by 121 i ...
, in which a group of intellectuals had declared opposition to the French government's military policy in Algeria.) At the midpoint of ''Muriel'', a sequence of newsreel with Bernard's voiceover commentary presents the inescapable 'evidence' of an incident of torture which continually haunts Bernard and explains his obsession with the girl he calls Muriel. This "moment of truth" which has not been confronted is echoed in different forms in the past lives of each of the other main characters. Hélène has been unable to overcome her sense of loss and betrayal from a past love affair; Hélène, Alphonse and Bernard all carry troubled memories of having lived through and survived World War II; and Boulogne itself presents the image of a town uneasily rebuilding itself over the devastation that it suffered in that war. Hélène's apartment, with its half-finished décor and ever-shifting furniture, and seen by the camera only as a disjointed collection of spaces until the film's final shot, offers a metaphor for the traumatised brain which is unable to put itself in order and see itself whole.


Reception

The film was first presented in Paris on 24 July 1963, and it was then shown at the Venice Film Festival in September 1963. It was for the most part very badly received by both the press and the public. Resnais observed later that it had been his most expensive film to make and the one which had drawn perhaps the smallest audiences. He also noted the paradox that it had subsequently become almost a cult film, attributing its difficulties for the public to the fact that its principal characters were people who continually made mistakes, which created a sense of unease. It nevertheless drew much attention from French film-makers and critics.
François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...
, writing about the film in 1964, acknowledged its demanding nature but castigated critics for failing to engage with its core elements. "''Muriel'' is an archetypically simple film. It is the story of several people who start each sentence with 'I...'." Truffaut also drew attention to the film's many allusions to
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
(including the life-size cut-out of the director outside a restaurant); "his in-depth influence on many levels ... makes ''Muriel'' ... one of the most effective tributes ever rendered the 'master of suspense'". The critic Jean-André Fieschi also made a connection with Hitchcock: "So we have a thriller, but a thriller where the enigma is the intention of the film itself and not its resolution".
Henri Langlois Henri Langlois (; 13 November 1914 – 13 January 1977) was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema. His film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often ...
was one of several commentators who noted in ''Muriel'' a significantly innovative style and tone: "''Muriel'' marks the advent of cinematic dodecaphony; Resnais is the Schoenberg of this chamber drama". Among English-language reviewers there was much perplexity about ''Muriel'', described by the critic of ''The New York Times'' as "a very bewildering, annoying film". The reviewer for ''The Times'' (London) shared an initial feeling of distrust and hostility, but admitted that "the film's stature increases with a second viewing". This recognition that ''Muriel'' benefited from, or required, multiple viewings was something upon which a number of commentators have agreed.
Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...
, reviewing the film in 1963, deemed ''Muriel'' to be "the most difficult, by far, of Resnais'
irst An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...
three feature films", and went on to say that "although the story is not difficult to follow, Resnais' techniques for telling it deliberately estrange the viewer from the story". She found those techniques to be more literary than cinematic, and linked Resnais's liking for formalism with contemporary trends in new novels in France such as those of
Michel Butor Michel Butor (; 14 September 1926 – 24 August 2016) was a French poet, novelist, teacher, essayist, art critic and translator. Life and work Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul, a suburb of Lille, the third of seven childre ...
. While admiring the film for its intelligence and for the beauty of its visual composition, its performances, and its music, she remained dissatisfied by what she saw as its emotional coldness and detachment. The appearance of ''Muriel'' on DVD led to some reconsideration of its qualities, generally with greater sympathy than on its first appearance. Many now rank it among Resnais's major works. The positive view of the film was summarized by
Philip French Philip Neville French Order of the British Empire, OBE (28 August 1933 – 27 October 2015) was an English film critic and radio producer. French began his career in journalism in the late 1950s, before eventually becoming a BBC Radio prod ...
: "It's a rich, beautifully acted masterpiece, at once cerebral and emotional, that rewards several viewings and is now less obscure than it seemed at the time". In 2012, the film received four critics' votes and two directors' votes in the British Film Institute's decennial ''
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' polls.


Awards

Delphine Seyrig won a
Volpi Cup The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
for best actress at the 1963
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
. The film was nominated for a
Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...
.


Restoration

A restored version of the film was released on DVD in France in 2004 by Argos Films/Arte France Développement from a distorted video master that squeezed the image into a 1.66:1 picture format. A DVD version with English subtitles was issued in the UK in 2009 by Eureka, in the ''Masters of Cinema'' series. It uses the same transfer as the 2004 French DVD, but the mastering corrects the image resulting in a picture that fills out a "telecinema" screen format ratio of 1.78:1. Argos later created a new high-definition scan after Resnais was shown the distorted video master used for the 2004 DVD. He approved the new HD master, which was subsequently utilized for the Criterion Blu-Ray release in 2016.
Nick Wrigley in the CriterionForum
', 04 March 2014
Archived
at The Wayback Machine.


References


External links

* *
A commentary on ''Muriel''
at L'oBservatoire
n French N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
br>''Muriel, or The Time of Return: Ashes of Time''
an essay by James Quandt at the
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muriel (Film) 1960s psychological drama films 1963 films French psychological drama films Films directed by Alain Resnais Films produced by Anatole Dauman Films set in France Films shot in France 1960s French films