Memoir of War

In 1944 Nazi-occupied France, young Marguerite Duras is a talented writer and an active Resistance member with her husband Robert Antelme. When he is deported by the Gestapo, she dives into a desperate struggle to get him back. She develops a chilling relationship with local Vichy collaborator Rabier and takes terrible risks to save Robert, playing a cat-and-mouse of unpredictable meetings all over Paris. Does he really want to help her? Or is he trying to dig up information about the anti-Nazi underground? Then comes the end of the war and the return of camp victims, an excruciating period for her, a long and silent agony after the chaos of the Liberation of Paris. But she continues to wait, bound to the torment of absence even beyond hope and love.

Adapted from the novel La Douleur written by Marguerite Duras. It was France’s entry for the Foreign Language Film Award at the 2019 Oscars and premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2017.

127 min  Cert 12A

Week Commencing 24th May

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Dates July onwards:

Emmanuel Finkiel (1961, France) was for years an assistant director, for instance on Kieslowski's Three Colours: Blue, White and Red. He has been writing and directing films himself since 1995. His feature début Voyages (1999) was awarded at several film festivals in France, including in Cannes.

Filmography

1996 MME JACQUES SUR LA CROISETTE

1999 VOYAGES

2008 NOWHERE PROMISED LAND (Nulle part terre promise)

2015 A DECENT MAN (Je ne suis pas un salaud)

2017 MEMOIR OF WAR (La Douleur)

'Mélanie Thierry produces something miraculous in the lead of Emmanuel Finkiel’s admirably dour psychological drama, Memoir of War, essaying a lightly fictionalised version of French doyenne of the ‘nouveau roman’, Marguerite Duras, yet never haughtily signalling to the audience that she walking in the shoes of a real person.'

David Jenkins, Little White Lies

'A haunting and thought-provoking drama that stays in the mind.'

'Mélanie Thierry's portrayal of the alternately tender and ruthless writer is fascinating.'

Paul Whitington, The Independent

★★★★★

‘A deeply humane and thought-provoking film, Memoir of War features surely one of the performances of the year from Mélanie Thierry as the protagonist.’(RTE)

★★★★

"Among its many notable achievements, “Memoir of War” is one of the best films I’ve seen about the ways in which grief can pull a person in both directions simultaneously. Whereas the film’s first half plays more like a thriller, the second half proves to be an emotionally wrenching interlude perched on pins and needles."

"Duras insists that we remember, and there is no question her message of empathy and repentance is needed more than ever."

Matt Fagerholm,RogerEbert.com

"A punch to the gut - but also remarkable for its specificity."

Jordan Hoffman, Times of Israel

"This isn't a movie about set-up and payoff, it's a movie about the torment of being stuck in your head, and the insoluble loneliness of walking through a crowd of people who are oblivious to your private suffering."

"Mélanie Thierry delivers a career-making turn in this compellingly austere adaptation of Marguerite Duras' autobiographical novel."

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

"Haunting and hypnotic… Finkiel evokes the inner world of one of the 20th century’s most revolutionary writers."

Film Forum

"While taking on only a portion of the book, “Memoir of War” intelligently approximates its difficult, shifting structure, in which senses of time, place and character are frequently clouded..."

Guy Lodge, Variety

"Thierry is utterly convincing and compelling from first to last, in a deglamorized but sensual performance of tautly controlled severity and uncompromising rigor."

"Melanie Thierry leaps towards the front echelons of current French actresses with her riveting turn as Marguerite Duras in Emmanuel Finkiel's slow-burning Memoir of Pain (La Douleur)."

Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter

“A gorgeous, expressionistic take on the war film”

Lee Jutton, Film Inquiry

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Q&A with Director Emmanuel Finkiel and Actress Melanie Laurent at the Lincoln Centre

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