As a woman, his stalking behavior gave me the creeps. In this day and age, his actions would be considered criminal. I found it impossible to enjoy the movie after he started following her at all odd hours of the night.
I think his behaviour in Hiroshima Mon Amour would only be considered stalking in a Lifetime movie. She was letting him follow her around. If she was freaking out and running away while actually saying "stay away for me!" then that would not be cool and it would be stalking. But in a dreamy romantic movie like this, that is definitely not stalking - i never even thought of that.
I got the impression that the stalking was more protective. After all, it was "At odd hours of the night". I compared to to Crocodile Dundee where the girl goes off on her own to prove she can survive. Dundee "Stalks" her to make sure no harm comes to her. (Please don't burn me for comparing the two movies. It's just an example!) Great Movie. (HMA that is) (CD is fun though!)
You raise a good point, OP, and i dont think people should attack you too much for saying this (though I can see why they would be on edge- this movie seems to divide people's opinions). Of course a man's persistence toward a woman he is attracted can be taken as wildly romantic, if he's the man the woman wants or creepy and deranged, if he isn't. Passion/forceful, "don't chase a girl who doesn't want to be caught" etc.
In the case of this film I took it to be that the couple here have a connection that goes beyond even just a simple dalliance- that they are drawn toward eachother because they've both experienced trauma from war. Could've been down to the acting- maybe she came across to you as too sincere in her rejection and maybe his amorous looks just came across as an intense looking sex offender (personally I think the guy was very good in this movie, even more so than the girl who seems to get most of the recognition).
My interpretation of the film is that the man, and the city of Hiroshima in general, represent the inescapable persistence of memory...so it makes sense that the man would follow her everywhere. The entire thrust of the film seems to me to be the tension between wanting to forget and needing to remember (for example, the citizens of Hiroshima seem to be living normal lives, but the horror of the bomb is always there, in memory).