Resnais’ film is the story of the middle-aged Hélène (portrayed by Delphine Seyrig, of Last Year in Marienbad, Truffaut’s Stolen Kisses, and Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman), an antique dealer located in the provinicial port-town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, who resides amid her wares inside the same flat that serves as her business showroom. An old lover of Hélène’s comes to visit — and soon takes up a more permanent residence within her life, despite the presence of a suspicious, tortured, and sexualised stepson who is haunted by a woman, a name, from his own past in Algiers: “Muriel”.

Scripted by Jean Cayrol, the co-writer of Resnais’ landmark early short film Night and Fog, Muriel is one of the great “family films”, and stands like a cinema landmark as one of the most complex and rewarding films of the 1960s. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Alain Resnais’ great work for the first time on DVD in the UK.

From the accompanying booklet, letter of stipulations for this release:

INTERTALENT
Agence Artistiue et Litteraire

Paris, le 12 juillet 2004

Ref: << MURIEL OU LE TEMPS D'UN RETOUR >>, film de long-metrage realise par Alain Resnais

I hereby confirm you, as representative of Mr Alain Resnais, that he wants to retein the original sound and the colors for the motion picture "MURIEL OU LE TEMPS D'UN RETOUR" that he directed, on a screenplay by Jean Cayrol, in the exploitation of this picture throughout the universe, in all languages, and in all media now known or not, including especially, theatrical, TV, video exploitation.

With result to the result of laboratory's comparative test, M. Alain Resnais does not allow and prohibit any remasterisation or technical work implying any modification of the original sound of the motion picture "MURIEL OU LE TEMPS D'UN RETOUR".

Thank you in advance to act accordingly in order to preserve -at M. Alain Resnais request- the authenticity of the picture and the specific quality of the acting.

Sincerely yours

M. Francois Samuelson                    M. Alain Resnais