Alain Resnais, director of 'Hiroshima mon amour' (1959) and 'L'Annee
derniere a Marienbad' (1961), has transformed the representation of
memory, fantasy and desire in modern cinema. This illuminating
introduction to his work, extending from his earliest documentaries to
the musical films of the last decade, traces the evolving patterns of
his filmmaking, its changing reflections on mortality, guilt, chance and
human doubt. Exploring questions of the time-image, of trauma, of the
senses, this volume sets Resnais' films in the context of important
current debates in film theory, and provides a concise account of
critical discussions of his work in France and beyond. Yet it also
offers a highly personal and detailed engagement with individual images
and scenes in Resnais' films. A passionate and partial defence of
Resnais' work, old and new, this volume stands apart in its attention to
the more tangible and moving pleasures of his films, their pathos,
rigour and visual beauty.