Muriel, or the Time of Return
In a haunted Boulogne of antique rooms and returning memories, fractured identities make every attempted reunion feel like an encounter with a stranger.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Labyrinthine
- Violence
- Moderate
- austere
- melancholic
- disquieting
- focused cinephile viewing
- film study
What critics said
Critics regard the film as a demanding but highly innovative modernist drama whose fractured form and historical unease reward repeated viewing.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film uses jumpy temporal organization, abrupt conversational shifts, and formal disjunction to estrange viewers from the story.
Bernard and Alphonse return from Algiers while the film's central emotional unease is shaped by obscured experiences of the Algerian War.
Hélène, Alphonse, Bernard, and Françoise continually misread one another and struggle to distinguish appearance from emotional truth.
Critics identified the film as a thriller whose mystery concerns the intention and meaning of the film rather than a conventional resolution.
Films like Muriel, or the Time of Return, and why
Last Year at Marienbad
formally fractured memory, moral guilt, and psychologically elusive relationships in postwar France
Hiroshima mon amour
non linear modernist storytelling, emotional estrangement, and unresolved historical trauma
La jetée
French New Wave experimentation, romantic ambiguity, and characters trapped by misremembered experience
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Hitchcock-influenced mystery structure transformed into an introspective study of guilt and perception
Movie Details
- Director
- Alain Resnais
- Release Date
- 1963-10-01
- Runtime
- 117 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (199)
Cast
- Delphine Seyrig
- Jean-Pierre Kérien
- Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée
- Nita Klein
- Claude Sainval
- Laurence Badie
- Martine Vatel
- Philippe Laudenbach
- Jean Champion
- Jean Dasté
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Muriel, or the Time of Return about?
- In a haunted Boulogne of antique rooms and returning memories, fractured identities make every attempted reunion feel like an encounter with a stranger.
- What is Muriel, or the Time of Return like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Muriel, or the Time of Return as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as labyrinthine.
- Is Muriel, or the Time of Return violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Muriel, or the Time of Return as moderate.
- What did critics think of Muriel, or the Time of Return?
- Critics regard the film as a demanding but highly innovative modernist drama whose fractured form and historical unease reward repeated viewing.
- Which films are like Muriel, or the Time of Return?
- Films with a similar feel include Last Year at Marienbad, Hiroshima mon amour, La jetée, and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
- How long is Muriel, or the Time of Return?
- Muriel, or the Time of Return runs 117 minutes.
- Where can I watch Muriel, or the Time of Return?
- In United States, Muriel, or the Time of Return streams on Criterion Channel.
