L’Amour à mort (1984) - film review

During an archaeological survey, Simon meets and falls in love with Elisabeth.  They share a few months of passionate love before Simon has a seizure and is proclaimed dead by his doctor.  Miraculously, Simon is revived but he is changed by his near-death experience.  Elizabeth is terrified of losing Simon for good, but Simon refuses to have any medical examinations.   She seeks the support of her friends, Judith and Jérôme, both pastors, but they are unable to share her anguish and cannot understand the nature of her love for Simon…

Whilst not in the league of Resnais’ earlier cinematic achievements, L’Amour à mort offers a solemn and unusual meditation on the relationship between love and death.  The intense performances from the four lead actors (Resnais’ dream team Arditi, Ardant, Dussollier and Azéma from the director’s preceding film La vie est un roman) is perhaps the film’s strongest selling point.

The film is far less satisfying than most of Resnais’ other films, although it does offer a distinctly unsettling experience.  Unfortunately the somewhat abstract narrative, laden with trite references to scripture and the paranormal, punctuated by inexplicable musical interludes with images of black space, makes this a heavy and somewhat inaccessible film.

© James Travers 2002

Write a review for this film...

The four characters of this film - two men and two women - represent four solutions to the human existential problem.  The director challenges viewers to understand what they are.  The actors’ uniquely intelligent performances creates in front of our eyes a kind of living encyclopaedia of psychological expressiveness that you continue to return to even after watching the film several times. For further analyses of films by Alain Resnais, visit: www.actingoutpolitics.com
Victor (Seattle, USA)

What do you think of this film?