Tonight, see two can’t-miss classics of European cinema that explore trauma and memory with narrative invention (courtesy of Alain Robbe-Grillet and Jean Cayrol) and Resnais’ own inimitable style.

“Hopelessly retro, eternally avant-garde, and one of the most influential films ever made.” —J. Hoberman on Last Year in Marienbad

Last Year at Marienbad remains Resnais’s best-known work, elegantly epitomizing European art-house cinema of the 1960s. Decked out in stunning Chanel couture, Delphine Seyrig plays “A,” a mysterious woman vacationing at a baroque chateau. Realizing Alain Robbe-Grillet’s enigmatic screenplay, Resnais flashes forwards and backwards in time to produce a narrative never to be resolved. (93 mins., 35mm)

Also starring Seyrig, Muriel focuses on a widowed antique dealer whose stepson is tormented by his participation in the torture of a young Algerian woman. Written by Jean Cayrol (who also wrote Night and Fog), it’s an eloquent commentary on the power of memory, as well as one of the first French films to acknowledge the country’s use of torture in the recently concluded war in Algeria. (116 mins., 35mm)

Muriel begins at 8:45 PM.

Presented with support from the French Ministry of External Affairs and French Cultural Services, New York.

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