Review of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) by Brian E — 08 Oct 2009

In Alain Resnais' debut French feature 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' - we begin with an abstract puzzle piece of physiology - a magnificent close-up of love affair at its most sexually intimate, and most artistically distorted.

Both married individuals, a French actress and a Japanese businessman share love in a hotel room - she poetically discusses the tragic radiation effect on the civilians of Hiroshima after US bombing, as the film takes on a documentary feel, depicting disturbingly real shots of deformed Japanese families - children and adults alike.

This is shock-art at one of its earliest forms. When the film takes linear shape, the Japanese man tells of how the Hiroshima events and World War II destroyed family and friends of his, and the hardships which followed, while the actress discloses her WWII imprisonment in Nevers, France from Nazi invasion.

Both lovers have had life-changing impacts from opposing sides of war which make them want to forget everything. This film deals with the delicate side of war repression, adopting oblivion in order to start over - in a beautiful art form which brings to mind the romantic isolation of Bertolucci's 'Last Tango In Paris' intertwined with the abstract poetry of Bergman's 'Persona'.

This is truly a recommend piece of anti-war film history.