PREFACE
I have tried to give as faithful an account as possible of the work I did for Alain Resnais on Hiroshima Mon Amour.
Readers should not be surprised that Resnais' "pictorial" contribution is practically never described in this work. My role is limited to describing those elements from which Resnais made his film.
The passages on Nevers, which were not included in the original scenario (July, 1958) were annotated before the shooting in France (December, 1958). ("Pretend you were annotating not a future film, but a finished film," Resnais told me.) They therefore represent a work apart from the script (see the Appendix: Nocturnal Notations). In the script itself only passing reference is made to them.
As I hand the book over for publication, I greatly regret that it does not include the account of the almost daily conversations between Resnais and myself, G. Jarlot and myself, and all three of us together. Their advice was always precious, and I was never able to begin work on any episode without submitting the preceding one to them and listening to their comments, which were always lucid, demanding, and productive.
Marguerite Duras
