Last Year at Marienbad

Rorschach inkblot. That's my first impression. Do the events described even take place? Can we be sure? And who's version is correct? Can we be sure of that? And even if we were sure a year ago, well, that was a year ago - wasn't it? We can't be sure. Which is the whole point of the film.

The film takes place at Marienbad, an immense edifice with characters, corriders and music right out of our murkiest memories. We couldn't make our own Marienbad's any more unrealistically melodramatic. It's not until the total edifice comes on screen that it's construction becomes clear: the building resembles the brain, and what occurs does so in the mind of the Narrator.

This is not to say what occurs on the screen isn't occuring in real life. The Narrator describe a previous meeting the Woman can't recall. She denies it so convincingly that doubts of it's occurance creep into the mind of the Narrator. In the end, even he can't be sure.

The sparring between the Narrator's memory and the Woman's memory (or his memory of her memory?) throughout the film is officiated by a Taller Gentleman. At one point the Man comments the Taller Gentleman might be the Woman's husband or chaperone. He does so because the Man (or his memory of her) is clearly the aggressor, and he reflexively provides her a protector, a referee to ensure he doesn't push unfairly. The Taller Gentleman uses his peculiar game (not infallible, just never beaten) to remind the Man of his limitations

That, in the end, the Man is no longer sure of the prior meeting with the Woman, comments on the limitations of not only our ability to remember at all, but to also remember accurately, especially with the passage of time. I would like to think it goes a step farther and shows how, assuming the meeting did not take place (?), we can trick ourselves into creating false realities.