This past Monday French avant garde novelist and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet died at the age of 85. Robbe-Grillet is regarded as the theorist behind the "new novel", which rejects conventional storytelling techniques for surface narratives that focus on objects and details rather than the world at large. Truly, he could suck a story out of an electric shaver like no other.

While a favorite name to drop in the literary lounge, Robbe-Grillet is best known for his involvement in the French New Wave of cinema as the screenwriter for Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad. An art-house favorite that has long kept viewers scratching their heads and academics claiming it as a top choice on their Myspace profile, the film screens for a
full week starting March 1st at the Brattle Theatre. Pay alms to old Robbe-Grillet and see the movie in its beautifully restored cinematic splendor on the big screen.

Post contributed by Brian Foley. Image from Last Year at Marienbad from Wikipedia.