He is the scriptwriter of this film and the representative of the new French novel.
I want to emphasize the important influence of his narrative style and literary philosophy on this film.
"Last year in Mariamba" is a so-called "film novel" created by Grillet at the invitation of Alan Renai. Watching a movie after reading the novel, or vice versa, is conducive to better mutual understanding.
I am ashamed to admit that I didn't finish reading the novel seriously, but I didn't feel too bored while watching the movie; and if I didn't understand it, I would fall asleep or delete the movie in about 30 minutes.
So for the first time students who watched this film, I suggest you read Grillet's novel first.
Whether it’s "Last year in Mariamba", or "Jealous" or other.
You will see Grillet's obsession with objectivity, which comes from his understanding of the materialization of this world.
First of all, his narrative language is documentary, like an accurate camera, not a passionate reporter, he seems to just push the facts to you without processing. Whether in a novel or a movie, you can clearly feel that cold, unhuman attitude. In this way, readers/audiences do not need to consider whether the author/director is arguing and adding vinegar, because you will not doubt whether the camera record is true (of course, even this is not credible now).
Secondly, the observation of scenery and objects occupies an important part in his creation. Because compared to living bodies like people, the objectivity of scenery and things is stronger, and they are less emotional. His novels all have large and large descriptions of scenery (of course this description is also a pursuit of absolute objectivity), and there are often repeated flashbacks. It is no exception in movies. The beginning is a long record of the scene, repeated many times, and the end also echoes. Although this kind of objectivity is not as intuitive as in the novel, the records of corridors, living rooms, pillars, etc. still do not reveal more information: through these indifferent, ignorant age, and even unknown material decorations, we cannot infer that this is Where and what year and month. To give another example, the garden is also a scene that recurs in the film. It is worth noting that the things in the garden are also mechanical and indifferent. Whether it is the heroine standing on the balcony (or the corridor?) looking down, or the heroine and heroine walking in the garden, you can see that it is very quiet and empty, except for the two protagonists, there is no trace of human and animal anger, only symmetrical Flower beds, icy sculptures, and neatly trimmed pyramid-shaped and rectangular plants. Therefore, the scenery only exists because of existence, and no longer plays the role of exaggerating the atmosphere. This is the separation of things and people. (Incidentally here: why arrange the match game instead of guessing games and storytelling games? Because the former is a game about numbers, the latter two are games about language, and numbers are more objective than language!)
Finally, Grillet's story has no clear motive. He opposed the Balzac-style storytelling method and refused to over-analyze the character's psychology. To a certain extent, this is also determined by his creative technique: because people have also been materialized, all behaviors no longer have obvious purpose. Laughing and joy, crying and sadness, these seemingly inevitable are actually given. The strong subjective connection was greatly weakened or even abandoned in his hands. The men and women who are stiff and sculptural as sets suggest that what they do has nothing to do with each other or between the heroes and heroines. People are isolated and disconnected, and the connection between two people is not more meaningful than the connection between two sculptures. This is the separation of people. So, it doesn’t matter whether the hero and the heroine met in Mariamba last year or somewhere else, what happened, how it happened, and why.
This is why, from a traditional point of view, this film is like a hoax, and nothing is explained from beginning to end. You can disagree with this idea, but this is the biggest feature of Robbe-Grillet.
Many years later, you may not remember if you have ever watched a movie called "Last year in Mariamba", or better, you are not sure if you insisted on seeing it last minute.
It doesn't matter.
All memories and experiences are unreliable, only the camera is real.
View more about Last Year at Marienbad reviews
