Editing Alain Resnais (section)

===1959–1968===
[[File:AlainResnais-1962-Venise.jpg|thumb|Resnais in 1962]]
Resnais's first feature film was {{Lang|fr|[[Hiroshima mon amour]]}} (1959). It originated as a commission from the producers of ''Nuit et Brouillard'' ([[Anatole Dauman]] and Argos Films) to make a documentary about the atomic bomb, but Resnais initially declined, thinking that it would be too similar to the earlier film about the concentration camps<ref>Emma Wilson, ''Alain Resnais''. (Manchester: Manchester U.P., 2006.) p.48.</ref> and that it presented the same problem of how to film incomprehensible suffering.<ref>James Monaco, ''Alain Resnais: the Rôle of Imagination''. (London: Secker & Warburg, 1978.) p.34.</ref> However, in discussion with the novelist [[Marguerite Duras]] a fusion of fiction and documentary was developed which acknowledged the impossibility of speaking ''about'' Hiroshima; one could only speak about the impossibility of speaking about Hiroshima.<ref>"Impossible de parler de HIROSHIMA. Tout ce qu'on peut faire c'est de parler de l'impossibilité de parler de HIROSHIMA." Marguerite Duras, in the published script ''Hiroshima mon amour'', (Paris: Gallimard, 1960.); quoted by Emma Wilson, ''Alain Resnais''. (Manchester: Manchester U.P., 2006.) p.48.</ref> In the film, the themes of memory and forgetting are explored via new narrative techniques which balance images with narrated text and ignore conventional notions of plot and story development.<ref>Roy Armes, ''French Cinema''. (London: Secker & Warburg, 1985.) p.184.</ref> The film was shown at the 1959 [[Cannes Film Festival]], alongside Truffaut's ''Les Quatre Cents Coups'' (''[[The 400 Blows]]''), and its success became associated with the emerging movement of the [[French New Wave]].<ref>''The Oxford History of World Cinema'', ed. by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 1996.) p.577.</ref>

Resnais's next film was ''L'Année dernière à Marienbad'' (''[[Last Year at Marienbad]]'', 1961), which he made in collaboration with the novelist [[Alain Robbe-Grillet]]. The fragmented and shifting narrative presents three principal characters, a woman and two men, in the opulent setting of a grand European hotel or château where the possibility of a previous encounter a year ago is repeatedly asserted and questioned and contradicted. After winning the [[Golden Lion]] at the [[Venice Film Festival]], the film attracted great attention and provoked many divergent interpretations of how it should be understood, encouraged by interviews in which Robbe-Grillet and Resnais themselves appeared to give conflicting explanations of the film. There was little doubt however that it represented a significant challenge to the traditional concept of narrative construction in cinema.<ref>Robert Benayoun, ''Alain Resnais: arpenteur de l'imagination''. (Paris: Ramsay, 2008). p.84, p.88, p.85.</ref>

At the beginning of the 1960s France remained deeply divided by the [[Algerian War]], and in 1960 the [[Manifesto of the 121]], which protested against French military policy in Algeria, was signed by a group of leading intellectuals and artists who included Resnais. The war, and the difficulty of coming to terms with its horrors, was a central theme of his next film ''[[Muriel (film)|Muriel]]'' (1963), which used a fractured narrative to explore the mental states of its characters. It was among the first French films to comment, even indirectly, on the Algerian experience.<ref>Jean-Pierre Jeancolas, ''Le Cinéma des Français: la V<sup>e</sup> République 1958–1978''. (Paris: Stock, 1979.) pp.161–162.</ref>

A contemporary political issue also formed the background for ''La guerre est finie'' (''[[The War Is Over (1966 film)|The War Is Over]]'', 1966), this time the clandestine activities of left-wing opponents of [[Francoist Spain|the Franco government]] in Spain. Resnais's scriptwriter on this film was the Spanish author [[Jorge Semprún]], himself an ex-member of the Spanish Communist Party now in voluntary exile in France.<ref>''The Times'' (London), 1 September 1966, p.11, col.F.</ref> Both men denied that the film was ''about'' Spain, but when it was entered for the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966, an objection from the Spanish government caused it to be withdrawn and it was shown out of competition.<ref>Ville de Cannes, [http://www.cannes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=504&Itemid=2457644&lang=en_EN ''The 60s: The Festival and the Film Market''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708114317/http://www.cannes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=504&Itemid=2457644&lang=en_EN |date=8 July 2011 }}. [Retrieved 28 November 2010.]</ref> In 1967 Resnais participated with six other directors, including Chris Marker and [[Jean-Luc Godard]], in a collective work about the Vietnam war, ''Loin du Vietnam'' (''[[Far from Vietnam]]'').

From 1968 onwards, Resnais's films no longer addressed, at least directly, big political issues in the way that a number of his previous ones had done,<ref>René Prédal, ''L'Itinéraire d'Alain Resnais''. (Paris: Lettres Modernes, 1999.) p.114.</ref> and his next project seemed to mark a change of direction. ''[[Je t'aime, je t'aime]]'' (1968) drew upon the traditions of science-fiction<ref>See also Chris Marker, ''[[La Jetée]]'', 1962.</ref> for a story of a man sent back into his past, a theme which enabled Resnais again to present a narrative of fragmented time. Alain Resnais's scriptwriter on this film was the author [[Jacques Sternberg]]. The film was unlucky in its release (its planned screening at Cannes was cancelled amid the political events of May 1968), and it was almost five years before Resnais was able to direct another film.<ref>''Une histoire du cinéma français'', [edited by] Claude Beylie. (Paris: Larousse, 2005.) p.211.</ref>

Throughout the 1960s, Resnais was attached to direct an international production called ''Les Aventures de [[Harry Dickson]]'', based on the stories by [[Jean Ray (author)|Jean Ray]], with [[Anatole Dauman]] as producer. The project was intended to star either [[Dirk Bogarde]] or [[Laurence Olivier]] as the titular detective, with [[André Delvaux]] attached as the production designer, and the composer [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] attached for the score. Resnais and Dauman worked towards the project for a decade before finally giving up.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2008/jan/22/dreamingofharrydickson|title=Dreaming of Harry Dickson|date=22 January 2008|website=The Guardian}}</ref> The screenplay for the film by Frédéric de Towarnicki was published in 2007.<ref>Towarnicki, Frédéric de, ''Les Aventures de Harry Dickson: scénario ... pour un film (non réalisé) par Alain Resnais''. (Nantes: Capricci, 2007.) {{ISBN|9782952696258}}.</ref>