Hiroshima mon amour (1959)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Alain Resnais

Writer:

Marguerite Duras (writer)

Release Date:

16 May 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

1959. A French young woman has spent the night with a japanese man, at Hiroshima where she went for the shooting of a film about peace...

Plot Keywords:

Hiroshima | Love | Memory | Asian Man White Woman Relationship | Japan

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Emmanuelle Riva	...	Elle
Eiji Okada	...	Lui
Stella Dassas	...	Mother
Pierre Barbaud	...	Father
Bernard Fresson	...	German Lover

Also Known As:

24 - jikan no joji (Japan)
24 Hour Affair (Japan: English title)
Hiroshima, My Love (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Hiroshima, mon amour

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

France | Japan

Language:

French | Japanese | English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating) | Hungary:18 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Autun, Saône-et-Loire, France

Company:

Argos Films

Trivia:

This film pioneered the use of jump cutting to and from a flashback, and of very brief flashbacks to suggest obtrusive memories.

Quotes:

Elle: Hi-ro-shi-ma. Hiroshima. That is your name.
Lui: Yes, that is my name. Your name is Ne-vers. Nevers in France.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Insignificance (1985)

The Seminal Film for Change

One would hope a film like this would actually cause humankind to take a step back and to foster the destruction of destruction itself. As Duras noted many years later in her semi-autobiographical "The Lover," she made the distinction early on between those who would exploit and destroy the weak and those who would protect them.

Here we have the exponential dynamic of this distinction in spades, realized in unthinkably tragic dimensions. Put in the simplest terms, "Hiroshima" is war personalized and psychologized in the language of love. It is the lovers' dialogue that begins to rouse the past; it is within the protective bond of love that atrocities can be drawn forth.

It is better to simply see the film than to depend on any synopsis. Once you do, its "medicine" will work within you --- and the medicine to which I refer is love.