Morel’s Invention

A shipwrecked man stumbles upon a mysterious island where a group of people preserved in 1920s dress go about their leisurely ways, amidst giant deserted Art Deco buildings. Adapting the same novella by Argentine author Adolfo Bioy Casares that inspired Last Year at Marienbad, director Emidio Greco fashions a slow-burn puzzle film that becomes a commentary on mortality and a potent metaphor for cinema. A very rare screening of a recently restored film. With Anna Karina.

“In this adaptation of Adolfo Bioy Casares's piercing metaphysical novella, a fugitive takes refuge on an island and becomes fascinated by its mysterious inhabitants, especially the beautiful Faustine (Jean-Luc Godard's muse Anna Karina). The island's secret, both horrifying and beguiling, distills the power of cinema and suggests that our past may be the strangest land of all.” —Kristin M. Jones, The Wall Street Journal