---
title: "Hiroshima Mon Amour: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/hiroshima-mon-amour/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/hiroshima-mon-amour"
critics_score: 74
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959): what the critics said

Critics' score 74 from 7 reviews: 5 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative.

Most critics respond warmly to Hiroshima Mon Amour, with praise clustering around its treatment of memory and the ways its images, dialogue and editing bring past and present together. The reviews admire the associative cutting, documentary-informed imagery and inventive storytelling, particularly where the lovers’ histories meet the catastrophe of Hiroshima. Several find considerable emotional force in these methods, praising the performances, Marguerite Duras’s dialogue and the expressive cinematography of the nighttime riverside scene.

The spread is wide, though the reservations are concentrated rather than shared across most reviews. Variety offers the clearest dissent: it respects the sombre, tactful direction but finds the film too literary and cerebral, its pace plodding and its love story insufficiently palpable. The central disagreement is over emotional impact: most critics find longing, regret and trauma in the formal experimentation, while Variety finds the lovers remain too symbolic to feel convincing.

## Slant Magazine — Budd Wilkins

Rating 4/4. 14 October 2014. 

The critic praises the film as a formally inventive, emotionally powerful meditation on memory and trauma. They single out the nighttime riverside scene for its expressive cinematography and emotional intensity.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/hiroshima-mon-amour/)

## Los Angeles Times — Robert Abele

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2014. 

Abele calls the restored film a must-see and a highlight of Resnais’ work. He praises how its dialogue, documentary footage and performances merge past and present into a haunting experience.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-hiroshima-mon-amour-review-20141017-story.html)

## Empire — David Parkinson

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 6 April 2006. 

Parkinson praises the film as a formally innovative, collaborative work that explores memory and representation. He singles out its associative editing and juxtaposition of the lovers’ past with Hiroshima’s tragedy.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hiroshima-mon-amour-review/)

## Total Film — Philip Kemp

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 9 January 2016. 

The review finds Resnais’s debut feature still hypnotic and compelling. It praises the documentary-informed imagery and Marguerite Duras’s dialogue for conveying longing and regret.

[Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/movies-to-watch-on-blu-ray-and-dvd-11-January-2016/)

## Time Out — GB

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 

The page identifies this as Time Out’s film review, but the review text is unavailable here. No critical verdict or specific praise or complaint can be established from the accessible material.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/hiroshima-mon-amour-1959)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1958. 

The critic calls the film a noble attempt but finds it too literary and cerebral, with its love story failing to feel palpable. They single out Resnais’s sombre, tactful direction, while faulting the film for plodding and remaining symbolic.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1958/film/reviews/hiroshima-mon-amour-1200419397/)

## Eye for Film — Anne-Katrin Titze

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 8 September 2014. 

The critic finds that the film retains its poignancy and remains historically and artistically significant. She praises its inventive storytelling and the way its images and sounds confront the limits of representing catastrophe.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/hiroshima-mon-amour-1959-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/hiroshima-mon-amour.md