Duras’s début as a solo director is adapted for the cinema from her eponymous novel. Shot in atmospheric black and white, Destroy, She Said takes place in an isolated hotel on the periphery of a forest, where a young woman Elisabeth Alione (Catherine Sellers), silent and solitary, intrigues two guests: professor Max Thor (Henri Garcin) and an enigmatic writer Stein (Michael Lonsdale). While the place initially conveys a sense of peace, Duras gradually and skilfully ratchets up the anxiety and claustrophobia…

The screening will be introduced by Dr. Douglas Smith, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, UCD.

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard.

Screening as part of the Marguerite Duras retrospective as part of this year’s IFI French Film Festival!