Hiroshima mon amour

Hiroshima mon amour is an acclaimed 1959 drama film directed by French film director Alain Resnais, with a screenplay by Marguerite Duras. It is the documentation of an intensely personal conversation between a French-Japanese couple about memory and forgetfulness. It was a major catalyst for the Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave), making highly innovative use of miniature flashback to create a uniquely nonlinear storyline.

The title literally translates from French to English as 'Hiroshima, My Love', though the film is almost always referred to by its original French title.

Plot

Hiroshima mon amour concerns a series of conversations (or one enormous conversation) over a 36-hour long period between a French actress (Emmanuelle Riva), referred to as she, and a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada), referred to as him. They have had a brief relationship, and are now separating. The two debate memory and forgetfulness as She prepares to depart, comparing failed relationships with the bombing of Hiroshima, and the perspectives of people inside and outside the incidents. The early part of the film recounts, in the style of a documentary, but narrated by the so far completely unidentified characters, the effects of the Hiroshima bomb on August 6, 1945, in particular the loss of hair and the complete anonymity of the remains of some victims. He had been conscripted into the Japanese army, and his family was in Hiroshima on that day.

The film uses highly structured, repetitive dialogue,...
Read More