Je t’aime, Je t’aime movie storyline. In this provocative sci-fi drama from Alain Resnais, a man wakes up in a hospital after an attempted suicide. He has invented a time machine that has proven effective, but only transports the subject back in time for one minute. Upon his release, he gets his hands on the machine to go back to a time he fondly remembers spending with a woman he apparently has feelings about.
The two stroll on the beach before she leaves for Scotland. He follows her, but tragedy ensues and it is not clear if he has killed her or if she died an accidental death. The time-machine angle of the film features a dreamlike series of flashbacks making it unclear if the action is presently unfolding or is merely a vague memory from the past.
Je t’aime, je t’aime (“I Love You, I Love You”) is a 1968 French science fiction film directed by Alain Resnais from a screenplay by Jacques Sternberg. The plot centres on Claude Ridder (Claude Rich) who is asked to participate in a mysterious experiment in time travel when he leaves the hospital after a suicide attempt. The experiment, intended to return him after one minute of observing the past, instead causes him to experience his past in a disjointed fashion.
The film was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the countrywide wildcat strike that occurred in May 1968 in France. According to Fox records the film required $875,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $450,000 so made a loss to the studio. While seldom ranked among Resnais’s best works, Je t’aime, je t’aime has received positive reviews since its release. Its synopsis has been cited as an influence on the 2004 Michel Gondry film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Je t’aime, Je t’aime (1968)
Directed by: Alain Resnais
Starring: Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot, Anouk Ferjac, Alain MacMoy, Vania Vilers, Ray Verhaeghe, Van Doude, Yves Kerboul, Dominique Rozan, Annie Bertin, Claire Duhamel
Screenplay by: Jacques Sternberg, Alain Resnais
Production Design by: Michel Choquet, Philippe Dussart
Cinematography by: Jean Boffety
Film Editing by: Albert Jurgenson, Colette Leloup
Art Direction by: Jacques Dugied, Pace
Music by: Krzysztof Penderecki
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox (1968) (France)
Release Date: April 20, 1968
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