Text by marguerite Duras for the film by Alain Resnais
Few films have aroused more enthusiasm or received more unanimous accolades than Hiroshima Mon Amour. One critic called it 'a thousand films in one' and another said it 'has raised the cinema to the level of the arts which authentically represent the movement of thought and the world of perception in the twentieth century'. Awarded the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and the N.Y Film Critics Award, this nuanced and finely wrought work of art has been shown throughout the world and has been variously described as a Proustian creation of remembrance, a poetic love story, an anti-war picture, and one of the most authentic screen portraits of man's inhumanity to man.
On the surface the story of a short but profoundly moving love affair between a Japanese architect and a French actress visiting Japan to make a film on peace, it also recreates compellingly those experiences of war–France under the German occupation, and the Hiroshima bombing–which years later still influence, perhaps even dictate, the lives of both characters.
This volume contains the complete script of the film, as well as Duras' original synopsis and notes, which provide further insights into the conception and evolution of the work. The script is illustrated with over seventy shots and sequences chosen and arranged by the late filmmaker, Robert Hughes.
