Wall, Corridors and Doors

The Constructs and Confines of a Mind

French new wave film L’Annee Denière à Marienbad recreates the process of memory with walls, corridors and doors— the constructs and confines of a mind in action. Walls, corridors and doors pose as symbols of these constructs and potential obstructions within the film. Although one may initially acknowledge these collaborative elements as parts of a large building, one can also construe them as parts of memory’s architecture. Alain Resnais uses walls, corridors, and doors to portray the construction of memory and its functionality.

L’Annee Denière à Marienbad simulates the process one goes through to remember. When one initiates the recollection of memory, he may or may not be successful. The ability of one accessing his memories depends on the constructs and confines of his mind.

Walls construct rooms to store memories, which create confinement. Corridors guide thought to consideration, or recovery, of memory. When the recollection is successful, one is able to travel through these corridors, think, and acquire the memory from within these walls. This involves reaching a memory that is not blocked. However, when one is not able to obtain memory, doors block a concrete memory.

Doors are the access point of recalling memory. If they do not open, acquiring memories is not possible. Distortion may also exist as content, within any space, and may cloud memories by creating a distraction that obstructs thoughts. Therefore, memory is blocked or locked from access. These constructs and actions all take place in the mind, which is where this film is located.

During the beginning of the film, an interior monologue repeats three times. Within this monologue, the main character X repeats, “…Always walls, always corridors, always doors…” (Resnais). While this takes place, there are observations of the hotel’s architecture. Here, the sound and mise-en-scène present the premise of this film’s theme: The construction, confines, and contents, the action of the mind’s memory and how they may dysfunction. Because the script provides this interior monologue, the film invites the viewer into X’ inner thoughts, his mind: what he is thinking, how and where he is trying to recall his memories of a woman called A. Because of this, walls symbolize memory storage.

A wall has several fundamental purposes. They are vertical surfaces that enclose and divide spaces like rooms. Within the rooms of the mise-en-scène specific actions take place, therefore, this is where memories are stored.

For instance, X recalls A in the boudoir on numerous occasions. These different scenarios create variation as if the memory is unclear or distorted.

Although the cause of distortion is not present in these particular scenes, the thought process is continuously attempting to seek the memory of what occurred last year at Marienbad with her. Instead of completing the thought of the memory, he engages in possibilities. Where his accuracy fails, his imagination prevails. This process of variation also exists in other settings within the film.

During other variations, he and she are on the terrace and in another, he attempts to win a game against M (the third and last character of substance in the film). They are also in the lounge where the mise-en-scène does reveal a form of distortion.

For instance, in the lounge scenes, people construct distortion. These people are within the scenes; however, their purpose is merely to fill space, to crowd his thoughts. Periodically they move, and then all of a sudden they freeze their motion. Their existence creates this distortion. Being in a room with her amongst these people distracts the memory of his and her relationship. The walls that create these rooms (in order to store memories) also hang and store images.

One scene shows a painting of the hotel (where this film takes place) hanging on a wall. This picture represents a visual memory of how the hotel’s exterior appears. In this film, walls not only combine to create confinement, but also spaces that may or may not be located.

To locate access to a memory, one has to attempt to locate these rooms. Corridors provide a link to access by leading him to access. Therefore, in L’Annee Denière à Marienbad, corridors symbolize the process of trying to locate memory.

This process involves him taking a passage, which then translates to the action of thought. Within the scenes that take place in the corridors, he and she converse or he converses to the viewer. This is his process of recollection. His falling in and out of discourse with her illustrates that he is thinking about her but the memories are not concrete. Her presence merely illustrates her significance as part of the memory.

She cannot help him in this process because she is only a figment of his memory. Throughout the film, although she is responsive and escorts him through these corridors, she thinks that he is mistaken in thinking that they know each other. However, what she thinks is not the premise of this film; how he thinks is— through corridors.

Again, this is his location of travel in order to gain access to his memories, definite or indefinite. Within corridors, he tries to find the location of his memories. Within these scenes they predominately walk, take some form of a journey, to reach the location of the memories. These corridors lead to doors, which may or may not open rooms. In this film, doors symbolize his potential access to his memories.

They determine whether he gains access to rooms. Doors lack presence in this film. This is because the portrayal of his access to memory is sketchy. He has to repeatedly retrace what happens in Marienbad a year ago. By the end of the film, the details of the event are still unclear. His limited access to these doors is the main cause of distortion in this film due to their lack of existence. By not showing him opening, entering, or exiting any doors his recollection is not concrete. Therefore, he lacks a firm grasp on his memories.

By making walls, corridors, and doors symbols of the constructs and confines of the mind, Alain Resnais was able to create a visual infatuation with the primitive aspects of memory. As long as a mind is functioning, there will always be walls, always be corridors, and most certainly always be doors. They will exist in the mind to help or hinder the ability to recall memory. By Alain Resnais illustrating these symbols through architecture in the mise-en-scene and sound, he provides the viewer with a more tangible concept of how memory functions. We are left wondering if the event he sought actually occurred of if it was a figment of his imagination, déjà vu or a dream. If one cannot recall his entrance or exit, how can he really remember his complete journey?


Works Cited
L’Annee Denière à Marienbad. Dir. Alain Resnais. Perfs. Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff. 1961. DVD. Argo Films. Fox Lorber 1999.