Hiroshima Mon Amour
Review: Hiroshima Mon Amour is Alain Resnais’ ( Night and Fog, My American Uncle) feature film which was shot in 1959 and is considered to be one of the first entries of the French New Wave or La Nouvelle Vague cinema (French New Wave is notable for its socio-political commentary and unique experimental style of narration/editing/visual style). The screenplay was written by French writer (one of my favourites) and Director Marguerite Duras. On the morning of August 6th 1945 in Hiroshima Japan, the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb known as ‘little boy’ which instantly killed 80,000 people and caused hundreds and thousands of injuries, disfigurements and further deaths from the radiation. The film is very basic: it consists of two main characters: Elle, a French actress who is playing the role of a nurse in post-war Hiroshima where she meets Lui: a Japanese architect. The two become lovers and experience an intense consigning of tragedy. The opening scenes of the film show images of adult and child victims and the injuries that they received due to bombing. Don’t loose interest now, because this isn’t Titanic or Armageddon or any of that ilk. The two characters discover that they have both encountered grave tragedies: Lui, who lost his family in the bombing, and Elle who lost a lover and disgraced her family as a teen. This is basically the whole premise of the film. The two characters tell their stories in the most intimate and unconventional way and connect on this level. There isn’t much else plot-wise to the film, its all psychological and emotional. There are barely any long shots or quick cuts from actor to actor in the film, it’s almost as if the characters and their tragedies are one. The camera is always in the actor’s face, every movement of their face is shown: the torment and longing in Elle’s eyes is captured beautifully, her wandering expressions as she recalls the story of her dead German lover is just incredible to watch and at times hard to forget that this is just a character delivering lines. The realism of the film is incredible, apart from some very literate dialogue that was a bit too extravagant the film is as close to perfection as you can get. There are too many emotional and psychological layers to the film to divulge them all and I would hate to ruin the experience of the film, but for a film that consists of two characters in two or three different scenes there is immense weight to this film. Anyone who has ever read any of Duras’ literature especially The Lover will know what I mean. She rips apart the characters core beings, their heart, their souls, (whatever you will) and puts all their darkest and most disturbing experiences and emotions right in your hands and how you choose to respond to their pureness is what you will take away from the film. All I can really say is that this is not a conventional love-story, this is an anti love-story: there is no happy ending. Although the film can be coined as a drama/romance film, Hiroshima Mon Armour is anything but. First off: it doesn’t star Cameron Diaz or Jennifer Aniston; there is no happy ending fairytale; Ashton Kutcher isn’t the catch of the day…an aging Japanese man is, and finally the film actually has substance. Anyone who has ever been in love knows that those Hollywood films are bullshit. Hiroshima Mon Amour displays how experiences affect our hearts, minds and souls. The film will speak to you in some way, even if its not about love, then certainly the humanity of the film will completely obliterate any stupid pro-war tendencies you might have. The film is completely raw and uncompromising in its portrayal of the devastation and complete stupidity of war, this might be due to Resnais’ experience making the Holocaust documentary Night and Fog, but trust me, no matter how aesthetically pleasing the SS uniforms are, how impressive nuclear weapons are or whatever it be, seeing a kid dead on the ground or completely deformed for no good reason at all is disgusting. Furthermore, the tragedy of Hiroshima is not exploited like such catastrophes as the Titanic, the tragedy of Hiroshima is an integral part of the story: the horror of Hiroshima merges with the horror and tragedy of Elle’s past, and having played a part in Lui’s story as well the bombing is never overtaken by the ‘love’ element of the film. Hiroshima Mon Armour is a film you simply must see, its been held up beside Citizen Kane for its innovative use of flashbacks and style, and is a film that I would recommend to anyone who can appreciate films that don’t have to be exploitive of war victims. To me, the imagery in this film is far more haunting than any footage an exploitation film could offer, because films like Hiroshima Mon Armour humanize atrocities in the most objective way that nobody could glorify the situation. Acompanying the disc is a 50 minute special feature called: A Brilliant Career: The Films of Alain Resnais- a discussion with Peter Hourigan, film tutor, CAE Melbourne, and writer for Senses of Cinema.
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