Films byTexts by Marguerite Duras

Marguerite Duras, pseudonym of Marguerite Donnadieu (1914–1996), was a French writer, filmmaker and playwright. She rose to prominence after the publication of her novel L’amant (1984), a story about a young girl and her older Chinese lover, earning her the prestigious Prix Goncourt. Duras’s literary work is characterised by an interest in human sexuality and love or the impossibility of love especially. Her style uses a so-called “écriture de silence”, a form of associative, often seemingly illogical writing. Her other books include La pluie d'été (1990), Le ravissement de Lol V. Stein (1964), L’amant de la Chine du Nord (1991), Yann Andréa Steiner (1992) and Écrire (1993), a book reflecting on the act of writing itself. She is also known for her many screenplays, the most notable being Hiroshima mon amour (1959) by Alain Resnais. As a director, her filmography includes La femme du Gange (1974), India Song (1975) and Les mains négatives (1978). A series of recorded conversations between Duras and Jean-Luc Godard, Duras/Godard Dialogues, were recently published by Film Desk Books.

FILM
Marguerite Duras, 1969, 94’

Elizabeth Alione is sinking into a deep melancholy when she drags down the corridors, the park and the dining room of a hotel. Originally intended as an English-language film under the title The Chaise-Longue, to be directed by Joseph Losey.

FILM
Marguerite Duras, 1972, 82’

With little or no embellishment, filmmaker Marguerite Duras offers a simple, often wordless chronicle of a woman’s day. She and her friend are seen doing yard work, talking about their families and receiving the occasional visitor.

FILM
Marguerite Duras, 1975, 120’

Anne-Marie Stretter, wife of a French diplomat, lives in 1930s India. She takes many lovers as systems of oppression decay around her.

 

FILM
Marguerite Duras, 1978, 14’

From the end of a night to dawn. An uninterrupted traveling shot. From Bastille to the Champs-Elysees, by way of the Boulevard des Italiens, Avenue de l'Opera, and Rue de Rivoli, a depopulated Paris offers itself to Marguerite Duras' mysterious and profound voice.