Marcel Proust’s last days in his small apartment on Hamelin street. The photographs that accompany him on his deathbed are on his bedside table and revive his memory. A million stories from his past come back, alternating the joys of childhood with the adventurous times of war and its more recent social and literary passages. His life, work and characters merge with fiction that, little by little, dominates reality.


«According to the famous phrase that says we can reread Proust ad infinitum because we never go beyond the same extracts, Ruiz conceived his film as a rich veneer of images and characters, objects and sounds, which disappear to come back even better, under new forms, but finally recognizable. Each shot contains a multitude of signs and signals, in the foreground and background, which make it possible to link different characters, times and places together.» Frédéric Bonnaud, Les Inrockuptibles.


The film will be introduced by John Malkovich, in a talk entitled Where are you now, John Malkovich?.

  • Duration: 162
  • Production year: 1999
  • Country: France, Italy, Portugal
  • Subtitles: FR, EN, Subtitles: EN, PT

Cannes Film Festival 1999 - Official Selection in Competition

Raúl Ruiz

Credits