For those with adventurous tastes and a little extra patience, the 90-year-old's possible swan song (though he evidently is far from fatigued) is rewarding.
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Slant MagazineAndrew Schenker
Slant MagazineAndrew Schenker
The film works best when it focuses viewer attention most acutely on the story, deflecting it away from the director's manipulations.
This reflection on the past, love and death through the prism of layers of theatrical endeavor is both serious and frisky, engaging on a refined level but frustratingly limited in its complexity and depth.
Though Resnais’ gamble seems to have failed, it’s encouraging to see a director on the brink of 90 still willing to experiment in a way most helmers half his age wouldn’t dare.