Memoir of Pain

Emmanuel Finkiel based this excellent film on Marguerite Duras’s semi-autobiographical texts about the last days of the occupation and the liberation of Paris. Duras was a member of the French Resistance, and Memoir of Pain portrays her attempts at uncovering the fate of her husband, who was captured by the Germans. The plot consists of waiting, writing, chain smoking, meeting other Resistance fighters – nothing particularly dramatic, so that the emphasis – as in Duras’s writing – is on style. Finkiel creates a thoroughly sensual world through cinematography, editing, soundtrack and the extraordinary presence of Mélanie Thierry, who conveys Duras’s emotional burden through her expressions and her body’s fragility. Gradually, Memoir of Pain accumulates real emotional power, resulting in a cinematic achievement that should not be missed.