Meanings
- uncountableA style of film that has an enigmatic narrative structure coupled with a dreamlike uncertainty over what is real and what is imagined.
Nathan A. Scott, Jr., deals more directly with contemporary McLuhanism and Marienbadism.
1967, Cinema Journal - Volumes 7-11, page 373 more examples
Nevertheless, anyone with memories of durable big stars and well-made hokum is likely to be sorry if one evening there is nothing available in or out of the house except TV soap opera, Ben Hur, and Marienbadism.
1968, Britannica Perspectives - Volume 3, page 406What with Alphonse's lies and Bernard's fantasies, one must assume the relative candor of Hélène and Françoise if Muriel is not to succumb to Marienbadism.
1970, Andrew Sarris, Confessions of a cultist: on the cinema, 1955-1969, page 104The American critic Pauline Kael feels that as a result of what she calls 'creeping Marienbadism', movies are going to pieces and she chides the art-house audience for accepting 'lack of clarity as complexity; clumsiness and confusion as style' .
2005, B D Garga, Art Of Cinema, →ISBN
Origin
From Marienbad + -ism, from the French New Wave film L'Année dernière à Marienbad (Last year at Marienbad).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Marienbadism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Marienbadism
“Marienbadism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Marienbadism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Marienbadism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Marienbadism.
Source: Marienbadism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.