Muriel (Muriel ou le Temps d'un retour)

Muriel ou le Temps d'un retour (Muriel, or the Time of a Return) is a 1963 French-Italian psychological drama directed by Alain Resnais from a screenplay by Jean Cayrol, his second collaboration with Resnais after Night and Fog. The director's third feature, following Hiroshima mon amour and Last Year at Marienbad, it continues their exploration of how a remembered or imagined past can be reconciled with present-day life. The story centers on Hélène, a middle-aged widow in Boulogne-sur-Mer, who renews contact with her former lover Alphonse, who arrives with his young new girlfriend.

Starring Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien and Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée, the film also makes oblique reference to the recently ended Algerian War: Hélène's stepson Bernard, an ex-soldier, is haunted by the memory of Muriel, a young woman he saw die during the conflict.