MovieChat Forums > Hiroshima mon amour (1960) Discussion > someone else's cup of tea...

someone else's cup of tea...

posted 12 years ago by silvrdal
8 replies | jump to latest

This must have been one of those movies I bought online
only because it got really good reviews on IMDB.

Two astonishingly attractive people have the world's
most depressing extra-marital affair, interspersed
with tragic images of the aftermath of the bombing
of Hiroshima.

This had been sitting on my bedroom dresser in a
flimsy crystal case, with a number of fairy-tale
movies from Europe. There was no description on
the case, and I had no recollection of what it was,
so I watched it, this morning, with trepidation.

Wow.
"Beautiful"? The couple, maybe, but it is a
total downer of a film. I didn't find it to be
"pretentious crap", but it was like an emotional
kidney-stone. I was miserable while watching it
and felt Soooo good when it was finally over.

And I like art films with subtitles, so this was
decidedly someone ELSe's cup of tea. I had to watch
the delightfully mediocre "Monsoon" ( 1943 -
'Isle of Forgotten Sins' ) as a palate-cleanser.
Thank you Gale Sondergaard.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036046/
(Just in case. You might need it.)
---

[–] clomax-1 12 years ago

Downer in the sense that, in 1959 at least, the world was still suffering the after-effects of WWII; my parents for example were locked in an intense struggle over cultural differences. They had two young children, my dad was trying to establish himself in post-war America and my French mother was stuck at home with the insanity of being a American housewife. Talk about depressing.
Hiroshima, mon amour touches on so many aspects of life in that era--gender, race, sexual mores, the dawn of the nuclear age--and Resnais keeps circling round & round, coming closer & closer to the center of everything...only to reduce it all to the two elements, the two people, two voices, two cities, yin-yang.
Ultimately, it doesn't really serve to over-complicate it, however I did find it a fascinating counterpoint to Amour, another film that centers on a couple.

[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

"I didn´t find it to be "pretentious crap"".

Not crap, but definitely pretentious. I didn´t take to it the first time, then decided to try again, but the results were even worse. Resnais really f-cked up here.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] f2039 11 years ago

definitely. i was curious about this film after all i've read and heard about it. but it was a bore-fest. i dont care what kind of subtle message it had. all due respect, but this is supposed to be one of Resnais' best films, i cant imagine how rest of his work is.

[–] ShellOilJunior 11 years ago

It's one of the most beautiful films. It's tragic but not depressing. There's a ton of hope in this picture.

[–] svenrufus 10 years ago

It was worth watching purely for the appreciation of your phrase - 'an emotional kidey-stone'! Genius, and I AM going to use that as if I'd thought of it myself! Thanks for that.

[–] doughazelrigg 9 years ago

Regarding the "pretentious" charge, I think it has to be viewed within the context of its times, and its place in French cinema, coming at a time when auteurs were moving away from lighter fare into more cerebral topics and methods of filmmaking. Among that subset of works, I think it's one of the best

[–] seahawk3133 9 years ago

This was one of those movies where I get what the director was trying to do & it may have influenced other directors, but to watch it on its own accord, it misses the mark and falls well short of being a great movie.

I was disappointed but I do understand those who could get really into the characters might like this flick a lot - But I couldn't

5 / 10

[–] SamoanJoes 8 years ago

And I like art films with subtitles,

You sound American.