Time Lost at Marienbad

Renowned author of "Brave New World", Aldous Huxley had noted that, “Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead”. To expand upon his declaration, Huxley is mentioning how life is technically devoid of any sense of continuity and that human actions are bursts of discontinuous motions. Therefore, the only time when consistency is true is when we do not move at all, ergo, death. This same concept can be applied to Alain Resnais’ film "Last Year at Marienbad". In relation to this, the film’s editing style is reminiscent of Luis Bunuel’s continuous/discontinuous motif is his work, "Un Chien Andalou". Resnais’ intention of setting the entire film in the claustrophobic hotel, creates a sense of timelessness as the viewer is unaware of whether the film takes place during the day or night (albeit during a few outdoor scenes) and is not aware of how much time has passed throughout the film. With various editing techniques, camera movements, and actions by the actors, the film loses its narrative continuity and creates a dreamlike atmosphere throughout. That being said, elements of surrealism can also be seen in the film and adds to the discontinuous space. As can be examined in multiple scenes, such as when the woman and man are moving closer towards each other at the bar, and the sporadic cuts to different costumes and locations during a scene, all provide ways in which the film toys with the aspect of time. While the film’s culmination ties up all the loose ends, the oddly structured narrative gives the viewer a sense of lost time and dizzying plot line which leads to a significant question that may have been pondered by numerous viewers: which year is the last year at Marienbad?

While performances, elements of mise-en-scene, and the music play an integral part of creating a certain ambiance to the film, the editing is one aspect that can truly alter how the film is conceived. Whether it is to connect one scene to the other in order to make a cohesive narrative or to add effects to the shot to provide magical imagery in a realistic world, editing can be one of the most important components of filmmaking. In regards to "Last Year at Marienbad", the editing produces a dreamlike nature and removes any essence of continuity. For example, the scene wherein both the man and woman are standing at the bar is a classic illustration of continuity being annulled due to editing. In the scene, as the woman comes closer to the man, it cuts to a vision the man seems to be having of the woman in her room. The cut scene of the woman in her room is brief at first, but then increases in length as she gets closer to the man at the bar. This can be comparable to blinking, as each “blink”, or cut to the woman’s bedroom, gets longer and longer until it can be assumed that the man has closed his eyes and the viewer is provided with an elongated shot of the man’s vision as he remembers the woman in her bedroom. The vision that the man sees however, is technically from the past. Although, with the editing technique ingrained in the scene, the bedroom of the woman eventually takes over and acts as if it is the present. Therefore, the blurring between the past and present is achieved through cuts between both the scene at the bar and the scene in the bedroom. While this is a specific example in the film, there are numerous instances wherein dramatic and sudden editing have caused the erasure of continuity.

Throughout the film, the man and the woman engage in multiple conversations that try to lead to a particular plotline, but are interrupted by strategic editing resulting in an unfinished interaction. For instance, at one moment both the man and woman are seen talking near the statute outside. This is abruptly disrupted by cutting to the staircase wherein we are provided with the image of the man and the woman in a completely different attire than they were in just a few moments ago. While in real-time, only seconds have passed and both characters are in alternate locations and outfits, the audience is unaware of how much time has passed in the cinematic universe of the film. This is problematic in that Resnais does not provide a proper timeline to the audience which makes the film difficult to follow especially when viewed initially. That being said, Resnais’ possible reasoning for this is so that he can project how casual relationships are enacted upon in relation to a spatial and temporal restriction (i.e. interrupted encounters). As the film confines itself to only one location, Resnais is able to display how closed spaces hinder the formation of relationships and result in problematic encounters. Taking from both past and present interactions and placing them within internal and external spaces of the hotel, allows for varying ways in which the man and woman interact with each other. The decision to exhibit casual interactions can also be the reason as to why no characters in the film have be provided with names. Even though Resnais adds his own flair to many of the scenes in the film, it is evident that in order to create this atmosphere of lost continuity, he has invoked concepts from Surrealism.

When thinking about Surrealism, the first images that arise in one’s mind is that of the paintings of Dali or Man Ray. However, Surrealism has also found its way into films due to Luis Bunuel and many of his motifs can be seen throughout "Last Year in Marienbad". Similar to how irregular editing constitutes a notion of discontinuity in Resnais’ film, the same is visible in Bunuel’s "Un Chien Andalou". In Bunuel’s film, the narrative structure is lost through sudden cuts, whether it be in regards to changes in location or actions. For example, we are given an image of a women’s armpit which is then unexpectedly transitioned into a man on the street poking at a disembodied arm with a stick. In addition to this, the film has a scene wherein a woman lays a man’s clothes upon his bed causing him to appear within the bedroom all of a sudden. These two instances relate to Resnais’ film in that it provides examples of how editing can alter the continuity of a narrative. Even though Resnais makes an effort to blur the distinctions between spatial and temporal spaces, he does provide some sense of continuity through his use of tracking shots.

As the final moments of "Last Year at Marienbad" provide a cohesive conclusion to the films dizzying plot, the beginning sequences wherein the audience is immersed into the hotel by the multiple tracking shots can be viewed as a node to continuity. The initial shots of the hotel’s interior are as if they are gliding along a timeline and each intricate detail provides its own narrative to the film’s overall plot. That being said, many of the editing techniques that are used throughout the film, such as sudden cuts, cause the narrative structure to lose its continuity and resulting in a confusing plot line. While Resnais may have intended to implement these edits to project a casual relationship between the man and the woman in the film, he merges both the past and present and space within the hotel. Therefore, timelessness at Marienbad is an example of how relationships are interrupted by the constant nuisances of everyday life.