Reading Mark Harris' article in the NYT I find it interesting that this film was such a big deal in the US at the time, because it certainly did not enter the "canon" of European cinema in the sense that other films did, like "Breathless" or "L'Avventura" or "The Seventh Seal", which were also such a "big deal" when released in the US.

Albeit this film was released 15 years before I was born and perhaps it was significant to the previous generation in a way that did not translate to mine, unlike these other films. I don't know.

But attending film school for four years I never heard this film mentioned once, unlike the other significant ones from that period (I was forced to watch Breathless at least seven times, I'm certiain ...). I can't say I've ever met anyone who's seen it either. I only ever heard of it because I got very into Peter Greenaway while in college and, as anyone whose read interviews with Greenaway knows, Marienbad is his favorite film (and he worked with its cinematographer, Sacha Vierny, his whole career until Vierny's death a few years ago). So I tried to find this film as it was so highly praised by Greenaway, and lo and behold ... it was nowhere.

To this day, of all the obscure crap I've tried to find on video or DVD over the years, this one takes the prize for difficulty. For two or three years I searched video stores and libraries. Apparently it had been released on video in the 80's but quickly went out of print. It was finally released on DVD in 99 but again quickly went out of print (and remains so today). Somewhere in there I found the DVD in a library in California I think (I moved around a lot throughout those years), and really enjoyed it.

It's great it's finally being re-released in pristine form and hopefully gets the accompanying DVD treatment. But I find it very interesting that this film that, according to Harris, was such a cultural hot-point in the early 60's NY was all but forgotten in subsequent decades, unlike many other European films that inspired such passion in American audiences at the time.

Very interesting to hear, Garrett. I wonder when it slipped off the syllabus. When I was in film school in the 80s, I'm sure I watched Marienbad for two separate classes, so it was still going strong at least 20 years later. Did you see any other Resnais, I wonder?

I didn't go to a top-tier film school per se, but at least a respected one, so I'm not sure how rare my lack of exposure was. The film may have been more popular at other institutions. I think I encountered Resnais entirely after college though I was perhaps peripherally aware of Hiroshima and Night & Fog.

But it's not just its diminished presence in academic film culture that I thought curious (and which may in fact be unique to my experience). It's also the physical obscurity of the film - video, DVD. (I didn't live in LA at the time, one of the few places I probably could have found it). But who knows ...

"no one really makes movies like this anymore"

Wrongo. They sure do. The problem is that no one really watches movies like this anymore.

I had to put in my two cents because I absolutely watched Last Year at Marienbad in my film courses, and this was only in 2001 or 2002. I also remember seeing other Resnais films such as Night and Fog and perhaps even Hiroshima mon amour.

I saw it in film school, too, in 1990-91 somewhere around there. Not sure what that proves - I had some eclectic teachers (my world cinema teacher made us sit, or in my case sleep, through Padre Padrone, which has its share of embracers). But I remember some quite good discussions coming out of it, even if many of us were perplexed (and a few bored) we relished the opportunity to talk about it, and then I remember wanting desperately to see it again to see if, as I aged and presumably got "smarter", would appreciate it on a whole new level, and experienced the same frustrations in tracking it down as did Garrett.

But, hey, there's a used copy for sale on Amazon for a mere $170.

If I had to guess, I'd bet on Criterion picking this one up within the year, I really would.

cp

I would love to attend a cocktail party where people are fiercely debating Last Year at Marienbad instead of say, Cloverfield.

The poster art Rocks! Is it Daniel Clowes? It looks like Bob Sabiston’s latest animated film. Makes me want to watch it again, right now!