Muriel, or the Time of Return · reception & legacy
1963 · Alain Resnais
How Muriel, or the Time of Return has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Overshadowed on release by the twin sensations of Hiroshima mon amour and Marienbad, Muriel baffled 1963 audiences and underperformed — but critics have steadily promoted it since, and for many Resnais devotees it's now quietly his masterpiece.
What's debated
The perennial cinephile fight: is Muriel the neglected middle child that actually outdoes Marienbad, or Resnais at his most forbiddingly fragmented?
Its footprint
It's a touchstone for cinema about the Algerian War's repressed aftermath — a subject French film was barely allowed to touch in 1963 — and gets invoked whenever a movie tries to show a nation refusing to remember.
Where it stands
A canon climber and critics' darling — the 'deep cut' Resnais that cinephiles flash to signal they've gone past the two famous ones.