Marguerite Duras

Marguerite Duras is best known as a leading literary figure in postwar France with award-winning books such as L'Amant. But in addition to novels, Duras was also a playwright, screenplay writer, and filmmaker. Among her most notable screenplays is Hiroshima mon amour (1959). Duras is considered a Modernist whose work challenges the classical conventions of narrative; by presenting minimal storylines, she seeks active interaction between the narrative and the audience. Generally, Duras presents the darker side of life--hers is a bleak world encompassing little future hope. Her body of work is all subtly intertwined so that a play may make allusions to a film, which could contain the same characters as one of her books, but the characters would be presented in a new way. For example, her films La Femme du Gange (1974) and India Song (1975) are closely related to (but not adapted from) her novels The Vice-Consul, The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein, and L'Amour.

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide