Hiroshima mon amour concerns a series of conversations or one enormous conversation over a 36-hour long period between a French actress (Emmanuelle Riva), referred to as Her, and a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada), referred to as Him. They have had a brief relationship and are now separating. The two debate memory and forgetfulness as She prepares to depart, comparing failed relationships with the bombing of Hiroshima and the perspectives of people inside and outside the incidents. The early part of the film recounts, in the style of a documentary but narrated by the so far unidentified characters, the effects of the Hiroshima bomb on August 6, 1945, in particular the loss of hair and the complete anonymity of the remains of some victims. He had been conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and his family was in Hiroshima on that day.

Cannes 1959

New York Film Critics Award 1960: Best Foreign Language Film

Etoile de Cristal für Emmanuelle Riva als beste Schauspielerin

Prix Mélies der  Association Française de la Critique de Cinéma

United Nations Award 1961

Oscar-Nomination 1961 fürs beste Originaldrehbuch (Marguerite Duras)

«Resnais erschloss durch eine in dieser Folgerichtigkeit noch nie angewendete Konzeption dem Film Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten, wie sie bisher dem modernen Roman vorbehalten schienen. (…) Die Verklammerung von realem und imaginärem Erleben, von Gegenwart und Vergangenheit kommt in ihrer autonomen Struktur, als fotografiertes Bewusstsein auf die Leinwand.»
Gregor/Patalas: Geschichte des Films