SYNOPSIS
A French actress working in Japan meets a Japanese architect with whom she has an affair. Their relationship consists largely of conversations about the bombing at Hiroshima, the horrors that he and his family endured, and her perception of it back home in occupied France.
With a camera that operates sometimes like a slide show, other times like a space vessel — switching easily in and out of flashbacks and gently blending footage of both Japan and France — the story unfolds more like a collection of memories than a chronological narrative. Perhaps the most dramatic scene is the unforgettable opener: An impeccably beautiful close-up in black and white depicts lovers writhing first in the ash of bomb fallout, which is washed away by rain, then, as their skin dries, they begin to perspire from making love. She — the nameless female lead — remembers everything of the war. But He — the nameless male lead — challenges her to determine if what she remembers is real or just a projection.
