Screening Dates: Wednesday, October 22, 2025, 8:00 p.m. / Sunday, November 23, 2025, 6:30 p.m. / Saturday, December 13, 2025, 2:00 p.m.

Director: Alain Resnais
Screenplay: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Cast: Giorgio Albertazzi, Delphine Seyrig, Sacha Pitoëff

France, Italy / 1961 / 94 min. / Black and White / French / English and Turkish Subtitles 

A man tells a woman he met at a hotel that they have met before, even spent time together at that hotel last year. Even though the woman remembers neither the man nor the encounter, she is gradually drawn into a reality she finds increasingly convincing due to the man’s persistent attitude and the details he provides.

One of the experimental peaks of the French New Wave, the film creates a hypnotic atmosphere that questions time, memory, and the reliability of reality. Wandering through the corridors, halls, and gardens of a magnificent hotel, the characters invite the viewer into a labyrinth between dream and reality with repetitive sentences and blank stares. Alongside the human figures, the geometry of the spaces also becomes part of the story, blurring the perception of time.

This masterpiece by Alain Resnais, based on a screenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet, won the Golden Lion at the 1961 Venice Film Festival. Last Year at Marienbad, which is also Delphine Seyrig’s first film, pushes the boundaries of cinematic language with its symmetrical frames, mathematical camera movements, and elegant black-and-white cinematography.

* The film will be screened in a 4K restored copy.
** We thank our main program sponsor, Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, Institut français Istanbul for their support.

*** The film will be screened within the framework of European Film Month.