All the Memories of the World
Toute la mémoire du monde - Alain Resnais
All the Memories of the World
The potential and limits of dutifully archived human knowledge, masquerading as a documentary on the organization of the National Library of France- the Bibliothèque nationale de France— is a 22 minute film.
Alain Resnais (1922 – 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter. His work frequently explored the relationship between consciousness, memory, and the imagination.1
Collective memory was considered in Toute la mémoire du monde [All the Memories of the World] (1956), in which the seemingly endless spaces and bibliographic riches of the Bibliothèque nationale are depicted. The musical score by Maurice Jarre is haunting.2
View the 22 minute film below in French with English subtitles.
Monaco, James. Alain Resnais: the Rôle of Imagination. London: Secker & Warburg, 1978.
Jarre won three Academy Awards for Best Original Score for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984).
I'm looking forward to watching this film, but I'm sure it will take me quite a while to get through it. These are the times I wish my French were better--a lot better.