Hiroshima mon amour

France, 1959

Film
Please note

Sorry, we aren't able to make images or video for this item available to the public online.

A French actress, in Hiroshima to take part in a film about peace, has a brief affair with a Japanese man. As they discuss the horror and consequences of the nuclear destruction of the city, the woman slowly, hesitantly begins to reveal the story of her own individual horror when she was punished for loving a German soldier during World war II. Combining footage of the destruction of Hiroshima, the film eschews linear narrative and instead moves back and forth between the past and present, exploring the effects of memory and trauma. Scripted by novelist Marguerite Duras, “Hiroshima Mon Amour” heralded a new phase for international cinema, a precursor to the New Wave, and the development of a cinema that would explore contemporary questions of philosophy and politics. Though the “stories” which the film explores are powerfully involving, the formal structure of the film forces the viewer to confront his or her own personal construction of “memory” as mediated through film and history. The film shows the impossibility of “explaining” Hiroshima but also convincingly explores the need to permanently interrogate the conditions which led to Hiroshima.

How to watch

Stream, rent or buy via Just Watch Logo

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Alain Resnais

co-producer

Samy Halfron

Shirakawa Takeo

Sacha Kamenka

production company

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Pathe Overseas

Como Films

Argos Films

Duration

01:31:00:00

Production places
France
Production dates
1959

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/83175--hiroshima-mon-amour/ |title=Hiroshima mon amour |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=22 September 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}