Life of Riley
Alain Resnais’ final film, Life of Riley, premiered just three weeks before the director’s passing. An adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's play of the same name, Resnais’ reworking gives new meaning to staying faithful to your roots – it's filmed exclusively in front of hand-painted theatre sets. Ayckbourn’s quintessentially British tale of death and infidelity in rural Yorkshire translates surprisingly well into Resnais’ auteurist form, making for a delightful postmodern experiment in the intertextuality of art.
Imbuing the levity of Ayckbourn's prose with Resnais’ lifelong obsession with time and memory (although not to the same monumental effect as perhaps Hiroshima Mon Amour), this delightfully droll comedy feels a little too safe and conventional in its approach to achieve the heights of Resnais’ previous output. However, the film’s overall message that death is best approached with a lightness of touch makes for a fittingly playful adieu to one of cinema’s great visionaries.