Time Regained (film)

163 minutesCountriesFrance
Italy
PortugalLanguageFrenchBudget$10.4 millionBox office$4.5 million^[1]

Time Regained (French: Le Temps retrouvé) is a 1999 French psychological drama film directed by the Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz. It is an adaptation of the 1927 final volume of the seven-volume series In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. The plot is about the anonymous narrator of In Search of Lost Time who reflects on his past experiences while lying on his deathbed.

The choice to develop the last volume of In Search of Lost Time allows the film to refer to the entire novel. For example, the film shows an episode from the first volume, Swann's Way (1913), usually referred to as "the lady in pink," as a flashback of Time Regained.

The film was entered into the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

The film intricately weaves together the fragmented memories of Marcel Proust as he reflects on his past, often through involuntary memory triggered by sights, sounds, and smells. The narrative begins with Marcel on his deathbed, dictating his thoughts to his caretaker, Céleste. As he reminisces, the story delves into various flashbacks, each one unraveling a piece of Marcel’s life and the relationships that shaped him.

One of the earliest memories is from Marcel’s childhood, where he is seen at a party with his family. His interactions with Gilberte, the daughter of Odette de Crécy, are highlighted as they pose for a photograph together. This moment triggers a cascade of memories, including a lunch with Gilberte where they discuss literature, and Marcel's heartbreak over his ex-fiancée, Albertine, who had been unfaithful to him with both men and women.

As the memories continue, Marcel experiences a haunting dream where a ghostly Albertine visits him, followed by a stormy walk with Gilberte where they discuss her husband, Robert de Saint-Loup. The narrative shifts back and forth in time, depicting Marcel’s youth and his complex feelings toward Gilberte, Albertine, and Robert.

The film also explores the tumultuous relationships between other characters, such as Robert’s affair with Charlie Morel, a musician, and the resulting tensions. Marcel's observations of these relationships are often tinged with a sense of melancholy and longing, as he recalls the various ways love, jealousy, and betrayal have influenced his life.

One poignant memory involves Marcel discovering a broken tea cup that had been saved by Gilberte, symbolizing the fragmented nature of his past relationships. Another significant scene occurs during a dinner party where the guests gossip about art and society, further emphasizing the superficiality and pretensions of the social circles Marcel once moved in.

As the war rages on, Marcel finds himself in various settings, from opulent parties to male brothels, where he witnesses the darker sides of human nature. In one disturbing scene, he spies on Charlus, an older man who engages in brutal erotic role-playing at the brothel. This encounter highlights the undercurrents of power, control, and secrecy that run through Marcel’s recollections.

The narrative also touches on the impact of war, with characters like Robert discussing the bravery of common soldiers and the toll the conflict has taken on their lives. Marcel's interactions with figures like Le Prince de Foix and Madame Verdurin reveal the shifting dynamics of society in the aftermath of the war, as well as the personal losses and disillusionments that have marked Marcel’s journey.

In the final act, the film returns to Marcel’s present, where he visits places from his past, including a park and a library at the Princess de Guermantes’ home. These visits are interspersed with flashbacks that blend seamlessly into the present, creating a dreamlike quality that underscores the fluidity of time and memory in Marcel’s world.

The film concludes with a reflection on Marcel’s life, drawing a parallel between his experiences and a quote from the sculptor Salvini about the paradox of time and the nature of existence. As the elderly Marcel walks towards his younger self on a beach, the film encapsulates the essence of Proust’s work: a meditation on memory, time, and the enduring impact of the past on the present.

Le Temps Retrouvé was released in France on 16 May 1999. The film was one of the nominations for the 2000 César Award for Best Costume Design. The budget for this film was about $10.4 million, however its gross income from box office amounted to about $4.5 million. The film is available to view online through Vudu and Amazon Prime.

The film was featured at the retrospective commemoration which was held at Lincoln Center at the end of 2016 which ran during the week ending December 22.^[3] As stated by Richard Brody of The New Yorker at that time: "[The film] is also a triumph of classical cinematic values, reviving Proust's era with an obsessive attention to detail: the trim of mustaches and the cut of collars, a cortege of umbrellas straight out of a painting by Renoir, and hypnotically opulent furnishings seemingly borrowed from movies of the era. Many of Ruiz's films... involve tricks of time and memory; working with Proust, Ruiz seems to mind-meld with him, raising his own artistry to exquisite new heights."^[3] Frédéric Bonnaud describes Time Regained as "a film of old fashioned illusionism."^[4] The New York Times article goes on to say that if there had been any reward for the film, it would have been for sheer ambition.^[5] Many thought that it was risky to create a film of this work as the book did not exactly tell a story, but brought the readers around in circles. Roger Ebert praised the film noting that "It is not about memories but memory. Yours, mine, Proust's. Memory is what makes us human. Without it, we would be trapped in the moving dot of time as it slides through our lives."^[6] Anthony Lane wrote that Proust "was not fond of the cinema; but if he, and not merely his work, were alive today, he might well change his mind."^[7] The film has a 72% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[8]

• Michael Goddard, The Cinema of Raúl Ruiz: Impossible Cartographies (Wallflower Press, 2013), pp. 141–151.
• Joanna Jaritz, Proust Cinématographe - Wie Raoul Ruiz Proust las (Heidelberg University Publishing, 2017). In German.
• Vera A. Klekovkina, "Proust's souvenir visuel and Ruiz's clin d'œil in Le Temps retrouvé" in L'Esprit Créateur (Volume 46, Number 4, Winter 2006), pp. 151–163.
• Guy Scarpetta, "Reflections on Time Regained (Raúl Ruiz)" in Michel Ciment and Laurence Kardish (eds.) Positif, 50 Years: Selections from the French Film Journal (Museum of Modern Art, 2002), pp. 274–284.
• Marion Schmid and Martine Beugnet, Proust at the Movies (Routledge, 2004), pp. 132–167.
• Margaret Topping, "Photographic Vision(s) in Marcel Proust's and Raoul Ruiz's Le Temps retrouvé" in Adam Watt (ed.) 'Le Temps retrouve' Eighty Years After/80 ans apres: Critical Essays / Essais critiques (Verlag Peter Lang, 2009), pp. 309–321.

• Time Regained at IMDb
• Time Regained at Rotten Tomatoes
• Time Regained at Roger Ebert
• Time Regained at Vudu