L’homme atlantique

Marguerite Duras's 1981 French film takes place in a house by the sea. A woman's voice addresses a man, describing where he stands, what he does and how far he has moved away. Much of the film is a black screen. An image appears at times and is cut again; the narrative uses the absence of picture not as a lack but as the film itself. The voice is Duras's own. Yann Andréa is the only person seen. It is short and proceeds like the reading of a text. Who it's for: viewers of Duras's cinema and of radical formal experiment. Who it's not for: viewers expecting narrative or images; the film is dark for most of its length.