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Like everything else, the secret of a good wine is in the timing: thetiming of the grape-picking, the fermentation, the breathing. And the timing isjust right in Autumn Tale, a luminous story set in the winemaking countryof France; director Eric Rohmer, in his late 70s when the film was made, clearlywaited until this particular bottle had reached the proper maturity. At thecenter of the film is the friendship between two gracefully middle-aged women:Vineyard owner Magali (Beatrice Romand, star of the previous Rohmer gemsClaire's Knee and Le Beau Mariage), blunt and compact, iscurrently unattached. Isabelle (Marie Rivière, from Summer),willowy and slightly ditzy, is married--and would like to see Magali happilywed. A matchmaking scheme via the personal ads leads to a gentle, amusing, yetincreasingly profound romantic confusion.

At first glance, the film may seemlike sun-dappled simplicity itself, but stick around for the final moments atthe very tail of the end credits, and you'll appreciate the wise mingling oflonging, satisfaction, and regret that have been percolating through the movieall along. Rohmer likes to make films in groups (the "Six Moral Tales" launchedhim onto the international film stage in the 1960s), and Autumn Talerounds off a set devoted to the four seasons. The other films in the quartet areworthy enough, and Rohmer has the kind of adornment-free clarity that many greatartists develop after a lifetime's worth of craft, but Autumn Tale is thebest of the bunch: a warm, quiet masterpiece. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Rohmer knows relationships
And he knows how to write dialogue that is revealing, engaging and realistic, no small feat; and it is perhaps this talent more than anything else that has made Eric Rohmer the great director that he is. Here uses France's Cotes du Rhone wine country as a backdrop and symbol to help him explore not only autumn love, but the enduring friendship of two very different women. Isabelle (Maire Revière) is an elegant, tall, fair haired, blue-eyed haute bourgeoisie and her friend Magali (Beatrice Romand) is a short, earthy, dark-haired petite winemaker originally from Tunisia. Isabelle is happily married; Magali is divorced. They are both forty-something.

Isabelle's daughter is to be married. But the focus of the film is not on the bride and groom, but on the older generation, on Isabelle and Magali. In this way Rohmer combines the warm and enchantment of the celebration of autumn life, when the grapes are ripe for harvest, when love has its last chance, when Dionysus has his festival, when the heat of summer is over and we are ready to reflect and realize what is really important before it's too late.

Isabelle feels this strongly and wants her friend to find happiness before another winter comes. But Magali, because of the vineyard, doesn't have much of an opportunity to meet men, although she allows that she would like to. She is at that delicate age when one can try again or shrug it off. Isabelle intervenes by going to a dating service and placing an ad. She meets Gerald (Alain Libolt) and they have lunch (she insists on lunch) two or three times and she evaluates him. He is modest, somewhat suave and amazingly diplomatic. They share a certain attraction.

Meanwhile, Rosine (Alexia Portal) who is dating Magali's son and who is very close to Magali, perhaps more so that she is to her son, also wants to find a mate for Magali. She proposes her philosophy professor, Etienne (Didier Sandre), who is in fact sweet on her. He is the kind of man who, as Magali observes, likes them younger as he grows older. But maybe she will be the exception. Maybe he will finally grow up. Both arrange for their choices to meet Magali at the wedding.

As usual Rohmer explores humanity and how we relate to one another, and finds both love and a kind of sweetness that is liable to bring us to tears. The resolution of the film is followed by a most endearing anticlimax in which there is a dance of joy.

Into the realm of middle-aged romance.
Isabella, played by Marie Riviere, a happily married book-seller, has sympathy for the lonely plight of her best friend Magali, played by Beatrice Romand, a wine grower. Deciding to do something about it, she advertises in a lonely heart's column and, pretending to be Magali, goes on her first date with Gerald,
charmingly played by Alain Libolt. Two weeks and several pleasant dates later she confesses her deception, explains her reason for it, and invites him to her daughter's wedding where she tells him he can meet the real Magali - as if by accident. He accepts the invitation and he and Magali have a lovely encounter in which each makes a very promising impression on the other. But the euphoria she feels does not last. Only moments later she is bitterly disappointed to learn from her son's girl friend that he and Isabella have been meeting in secret. Her disappointment turns to resentment when she catches them behaving in a more than friendly fashion.

But it seems to me that what she sees is a plot contrivance put in to add drama and tension to the story line. Without it there would be no film. But it is still a central flaw which undermines the films reality. In one brief minute, in contradiction of everything she has said and that we know about her, Isabella comes on to Gerald and seems to be trying to seduce him. It seems so out of character that you wonder what on earth she is playing at. And at that moment, without either of them noticing who it is, the door is opened by Magali who seeing them together feels that all her hopes for happiness have been shattered. She feels betrayed. Isabella's subsequent explanation that it was only a peck on the cheek to thank him for liking her friend doesn't hold water, and flies in the face of what we remember. And then she has to face the ordeal of being driven home by Gerald, and her struggle to suppress her rage and inner turmoil is superbly acted. She fails of course and leaves him abruptly, convinced that all now is lost.

The ending of the film is a little inconclusive, leaving the question hanging; was Isabella coming on to Gerald or not? and if so what does it portend for the future of all three? But that is another film.

This one is typically Rohmer; warm, intimate, a film in which nothing much happens but in which considerable pleasure is to be derived from listening to the charming character's very real conversations and watching their very subtle and ever changing facial expressions. Just to be in their company is enough.

Enchanting Autumn Tale
Eric Rohmer's "Autumn's Tale" is one of those films that, even if you've watched it several times, you stop when you're flipping the channels on cable and watch it in parts or complete again and again. There is no plot to speak of and the characters seems to be floating on air or in this case floating on air in the Rhone Valley. These lives are lives observed and not dissected. Rohmer leaves it to the viewer to draw conclusions or not. The players include: Magali and her son and her son's girlfriend who used to sleep with her professor and Magali's friend who writes a personal ad to get Magali hooked up. In the telling it sounds silly. But in the viewing it isn't at all silly...just human and real and viewed with empathy on Rohmer's part. It's been a couple weeks since I've seen any part of this film..so I think I'll pop it in the player and enjoy it once again, open a bottle of Cote de Rhone and gnaw on a hunk of country bread and cheese.

Encore bonheur!
The most droll of romances yet from a great storyteller. Nothing seems lacking, nothing seems excessive in plot or characterization. The subtle refinement of the dialogue leaves one smiling with delight. The craft of this piece of art, the beauty of the Rhone valley (slowly being spoiled with industry), the sunswept fields, the wind, and that, acts on the heart like the last drops of a fine wine on the palate. I somewhat doubt that anyone much under forty can fully appreciate the bittersweet qualities of this tale, but for those who have lived enough to have found themselves solitary at an age when stoic resignation is considered a virtue, and dedication to career is seen as a cure, the universality of Magali's cri de couer is full of poignant charm. As so often before Rohmer emphasizes the contingency of romantic attachment while creating two of the most appealing and deserving heroines. The fact that they are the most mature women he has yet depicted suggests that, like Magali's vintage, he feels that one can't really appreciate life until it's been allowed time to ripen.

A beautiful film that exemplifies cinematic creativity
As I walked out of the theatre from this film, my whole being felt moved. It's very simplicity is endearing. The natural beauty of the actors was refreshing. They weren't glamorous or beautiful, and Magali strikes you as almost plain as the film commences. But you still grow to love her carefree spirit and the way she loves her work. In addition, the cinematography is commendable and you just want to drown yourself in the vineyards of France when you see it. There are times when the whole thing just seems droll. You feel as if you are stepping back in time, but not so much that you lose the comfortable understanding you assume with the characters. I love watching this movie, and I absolutely watch it again and again. ... Read more

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In 1965 six French New Wave directors took a Paris neighborhood and concocted a short sketch around it. The results sometimes favor character and story, and sometimes local flavor, but almost all are engaging in their own right. Jean Douchet and Jean-Luc Godard (repsectively) offer gloriously French slices of romantic comedy in the sexually open 1960s with "Saint Germain des Prés" and "Montparnasse et Levallois." Jean Rouch's"Gare du Nord" is slight of substance but beautifully explores the neighborhood in a gorgeous tracking shot. Jean-Daniel Pollet's "Rue Saint-Denis" offers two delicious characters in a witty comedy of a mousy dishwasher who brings a brassy streetwalker to his dumpy apartment. Eric Rohmer's "Place de l'Étoile," a sometimes silly but deftly managed little comedy of a manwho strikes a panhandler and is terrified he killed him, displays a giddy goofiness unseen in his later work. Claude Chabrol's shiver-inducing slice of urban life "La Muette" ventures outside the oppressive hallways and tiny rooms only once, at the end, as if to celebrate the escape of the rebellious boy from his bickering parents. The strongest of a solid collection, Chabrol's chilly view of dead-end relationships in a splintered upper class family concludes the otherwise lighthearted collection on a devastating, dark note. Released in France under the more evocative title Paris Vu Par... (Paris Seen By), this is one of the strongest and most entertaining anthology films to emerge from the 1960s. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Love At First Sight!
I fell in love instantly when I first saw the first story "Saint Germain de pres". The second one "Gare Du Nord" had an equally amazing impact. Each director had an amazing eyes for details in capturing moods, lighting and expressions. The stories of life were presented in a way you'll never have imagined before. Left me with dreamy dejau vu feeling that I can't quite shake myself off days later. I watched the VHS three times before returning it to the store, and got myself a brand new one that I'm sure I'll watch it another 1000000000 (infinite) more times. If I have more stars, I'll definitely give it a million stars.

Perfectly Paris
This film has got to be one of the most definitive expressions of what "Paris" means. Six shorts, in six neighborhoods of Paris. If you love Paris you will love this film. I especially liked the one about the arguing couple. The wife has an encounter with a gentleman on the street. I won't give it away, but it's fantastic. This grouping of Directors cannot be beat.

A sparkling , unusual snapshot of cool, sixties Paris.
What a wonderful gem of a film. It perfectly captured the mood and characters of Sixties Paris. A mood much different than ours in America at that time. For lovers of Cool European culture each individual film has something to offer. At times humorous and at times poignant, I felt as if I had discovered something hidden for a long time. The directors involved in these films are all now quite famous for their contributions to modern cinema, but in Six in Paris you get the feeling you've been invited to their coming out party. Many of the techniques used in the directing of these films are now embraced by many, but no one today uses them like they are used here. Most importantly we get a strangely beautiful portrait of an edgy, sometimes gray, hip Paris which may be long gone. Stylish clothes, bustling cafe's, and plenty of Citroens and scooters buzzing around the streets - I would recommend this film to anyone looking to slip back into another time for an evening. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The talk-fest films of aging French New Wave filmmaker Eric Rohmer (My Night at Maud's, Pauline at the Beach) have grown less fashionable--and watchable--over the years. Rendezvous in Paris, though, is his breeziest film in years. Three unconnected stories of modern courtship play across the screen with a wonderful supporting player tying the stories together: the colorful streets of Paris. In the first story a young woman hears her boyfriend is seeing other women, leading her into a sticky, amusing situation. Another woman doesn't want to visit her boyfriend's apartment in the middle piece. She suggests, though, they have an affair while posing as tourists. The finale, the best segment, focuses on your typical aloof artist who warms to a newly married woman visiting an art gallery. Rohmer's pacing may be trying for those weaned on American romantic comedies, but this film is one of his more accessible, as the game of courtship is universal. --Doug Thomas ... Read more

Reviews (5)

One of his lesser works
I have seen all but 2 of Eric Rohmer's feature films, and being that he is my favorite director I am very critical of what I like and don't like. This movie is ideal for two types of people: Francophiles who enjoy different sights and sounds of beautiful Paris (at times the movie is almost like a travelogue, especially in the 2nd story) and Eric Rohmer completists. This movie was a real treat compared to Rohmer's last few movies, which were becoming more tedious and uninteresting since "A Tale of Springtime". This movie was made at the same time Rohmer was in the midst of his Four Seasons series and pales in comparison to any of them. Rohmer fans will love it and people looking for a slight, forgettable talkfest in Paris. For anyone looking to enter the world of Rohmer, I'd recommend the two films that immediately proceeded this one, "A Summer's Tale" & "Autumn Tale" over this

"I feel your pain."
Director Eric Rohmer's film "Rendezvous in Paris" is composed of three short films which examine the nature of infidelity. Each film centres on the relationships of young couples who are in varying degrees of commitment.

The first film, "Rendez-vous de 7 heures," is the story of Esther (Clara Bellar) and Horace (Antoine Basler)--both students in Paris who have agreed to a mutually exclusive relationship. When Horace makes excuses why he can't meet Esther one night, her suspicions are aroused. Esther acknowledges that Horace was a bit naughty with girls before he met her, but she finds it difficult to conceive that he may actually be unfaithful. An odd chain of events leads Esther to the truth.

The second film, "Les Bancs de Paris" is the story of a young woman who begins an illicit relationship with a young, single professor. The woman (and we never know her name) lives with her boyfriend, Benoit, but that relationship is stale and unsatisfying. The professor and the woman engage in a number of assignations, and the film almost serves as a tour guide to Paris as the couple brave all sorts of weather to meet in public parks and various Parisian landmarks. The professor tries to pressure the woman to consumate their relationship, but she is quite content to dally.

The third film, "Mere et Enfant 1907" is the story of a painter who takes a casual date to the museum, but they have nothing in common. It's soon clear that the date is not going well. A young woman sitting in front of a Picasso painting in the museum catches his eye, and he abandons his date to pursue the stranger who says she is on her honeymoon. Even though she's a newlywed, she dallies with the idea of an illicit relationship with the painter.

The second film is really the strongest of the three--in spite of the fact that the characters remain nameless and the viewer is not privy to their lives beyond the assignations. In this film, Rohmer captures the bizarre dynamic of infidelity--the fact that the intruder (the professor) is not a separate human being from the soon-to-be cuckolded Benoit--the professor's fate is inexplicably entwined with Benoit's. As the lover, he is the antidote for the stale relationship, and he is chosen BECAUSE of Benoit. The woman makes it very clear that the professor is an object--an object of distraction and the catalyst to remove her from the relationship, but the professor fails to grasp this concept and remains confused about the true nature of his role until the end. I love Rohmer films, and this is one of his best--displacedhuman.

Vicarious Paris Experience
Ever wonder what it's like to be a romantic in the most romantic city in the world?

IF so, this movie is for you. The three stories are nice, simple, and comprensive. You'll enjoy them, and enjoy the sites.

Just sit back, and enjoy the trip through lovely Paris, France . . .

Mediocre Picture Quality - VHS Copy
Really good movie, 3 interesting stories, good acting, great scenery of Paris. The only problem is the quality of the VHS picture. I purchased a new copy from this store, and watched it the very first time. I was very disappointed with the picture that kept moving constantly.

Love and its illusions Paris style.
Eric Rohmer's three stories about the allure of love and it's illusions. One of the most insightful films about relationships that I have seen. Each story is real in it's depiction of relationships in a style that is unlike anything made in America. You will either be disapointed or touched by the stories as you see a litte bit of your own experiences portrayed. A unique look at young love by a elderly master who provides keen insight about young love. ... Read more

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A low-key, slightly creepy meditation on infidelity andadjustments to social expectations, Chloe in the Afternoon (1972)marksthe culmination of director Eric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series. Thefilm, which traces the trajectory of Frederic, a married businessman,through temptation and an altogether standard midlife crisis, feelsremarkably ham-handed, and fails to offer anything more thanplatitudinous responses to complex problems.Zouzou proves fetching asthe title character, a bohemian drifter bent on seducing, and arguablytransforming, the comfortably bourgeois protagonist (the dull-lookingBernard Verley); the rest of the cast, given indistinct characters tointerpret, rarely provides much excitement.Several scenes--particularly a revelatory encounter between Frederic and Chloe in thebasement of a dress shop--do manage to catch fire, but Rohmer dodgesthe implications of his own creative instincts and undermines hisown point by grafting on a pat conclusion that feels cheap and sudden. Lost in the slide toward obviousness is a genuinely intelligent script--one that manages to feel bright without ever resorting to cleverness--and foggy-surreal location shooting in some of the less fashionableareas of Paris.Best suited for repentant philanderers and hardcoreFrancophiles.--Miles Bethany ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A masterpiece! However, if you must own it, buy the VHS.
First of all, I want to stress that there is siginifcant disjunction here between the excellence of Rohmer's film, and the dismal quality of the DVD. Thus, my criticism is not addressed to the film itself, but to the lackluster transfer by Fox Lorber. I can second the comment of the reviewer below, that the film itself deserves five stars, whereas the video and audio quality of this DVD are no better than a VHS tape (in fact, this would be very low quality for a VHS for that matter). Moreover, as with their Godard and Truffaut issues, Fox Lorber has marked only 6 chapter headings on this DVD. Now how hard is it to bookmark a chapter? Of course, I suppose that would actually require taking some interest in the film itself, and perhaps even watching it a couple of times, so as to gadge the appropriate moments to bookmark. Thus, this DVD does not even have the advantage of convenient chapter options. It is a shame that a company who owns the rights to so many great films repeatedly releases such poorly engineered DVDs. There are, of course, exceptions (more recent titles, many of the Truffaut issues, or Godard's "Vivre Sa Vie," for example). Nonetheless, I have come to expect from Fox Lorber below average video and audio quality, along with few special features, if any (even the director and actor videographies are often incomplete). Even though I own many DVDs from Fox Lorber, inspite of their mediocre quality, this is one issue that I cannot recommend. I first rented this film on DVD, but elected to purchase it on VHS, instead. This is my favorite Rohmer film, with "Claire's Knee" following a close second, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in international cinema. However, do not waste your money on this DVD edition.

Intriguing story about love and monogamy
Veteran French actor Bernard Verley stars as Frederic who is the kind of man who loves women with a great passion, but finds that he can direct all that love physically into one woman. Chloe is a woman, cynical about men, confident of her power of seduction, a woman who never wants to marry. They were friends and now they meet again. He is married, a successful businessman. She is single, living from day to day. What will happen? Will she entice him away from his wife? Will he find the French happiness with a wife and a mistress?

The title, while good, is misleading, as is the sexy cover on this video. (The French title, L'amour l'apres-midi, is better; but that title in English was taken by Love in the Afternoon (1957) starring Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn.) This is about as sexy as a Disney movie (although there is some backside nudity), yet it is an intriguing story about love, human sexuality and the question of monogamy. I can already see some of the other reviews: "Too talky." "Endless talk and no action." Ah, but they are wrong. This is a fascinating film in which the action is subtle and true and very interesting.

Francoise Verley plays Frederic's wife. She is not nearly as pretty as he thinks she is. Nor is she as removed from his life away from her as he naively believes. Eric Rohmer's subtle direction makes it clear that she knows more than she will ever tell him, that she loves him and perhaps prays that he still loves her. But she is above saying a single word. One gets the sense that she knows he is a man so attractive to other women that it is inevitable that he will stray. But does he? The final scene in which we know why she is crying--although ironically, he does not--is just beautifully done and ends the movie at exactly the right moment.

Zouzou plays Chloe who is Parisian, bohemian and quietly desperate. As usual with Rohmer there is a kind of realism in the movie that defies description. The people and the scenes and the events are real; there is no straining for effect, and everything is understated with a characteristic Rohmerian message about human nature.

This starts slow and never really speeds up, but do yourself a favor and stay with it. The denouement is beautifully turned and the revelation of the three principal characters is as clear and clean and agreeable as Chloe after her shower.

Chloe in the Afternoon
The lackluster direction of Rohmer doesn't match the intensity of the themes involved. It's like he's trying to imply a movie instead of making one. Everything looks frayed, but it goes deeper than mere understatement: nobody in the movie has a spine and it's as if they're being held upward by strings. The movie has such a soft mushy feel to it that the erotic scenes don't feel erotic. It's like he's trying to take away all the fun, but wants to tease us at the same time. And that's okay in itself -- Bergman's Persona is the ultimate tease -- but here you're not sure who is in control, and the experience just becomes tedious.

The Choices That We (Men) Make Define Us (Them)
An interesting take on infidelity. Rohmer's style is subtle and sparse, and his characters take first priority. The protagonist is a happily married man who still fantasizes about every pretty girl he sees while walking on the streets of Paris. A friend he hasn't seen for a while and wasn't particularly close to before, Chloe, drifts back into his life and thoughts, slowly but surely. Her affections for him seem to grow as they begin to spend generally platonic afternoons together, while at the same time his beautiful wife, who he truly adores, has their first child. The new father then continues his friendship with the young Chloe, and he ultimately must make the decision whether to cross that line with her.

Although there are two women to the one man in this story, as in the other Rohmer films I've seen, this film is about the Man, and His Choice. The Male protagonist speaks to us in the voice over, it is His Story. His thoughts, His dreams, His fantasies, and His choice.

One complaint, if it can be called that, is that the wife's character leaves less of a trace than Chloe. One would like to know why the protagonist makes the decision he must make in the end, and be able to compare the two women he shares his days with somehow. The main difference between his wife and Chloe seems to be that his wife is more submissive and less playful, almost melancholy in a way (but not necessarily unhappy). And fragile as a bird. As would be expected, she represents stability, continuity, home. Chloe on the other hand is a bohemian drifter type who appears and disappears just as easily. She represents, also as to be expected, freedom, spontaneity, possibility. But they are still, in some sense, fragments. Especially the wife. We do see her joy in motherhood and domesticity, but it's only in one dimension.

Rohmer's films are like a giant puzzle with One Proper Couple being formed as all the pieces come together. He is fascinated with the beginning/early stages of relationships, and the choices that are made at that point. Serving as a sort of match-maker for his characters, he foresees one suitable mate for his Protagonist, and Only One. And though these films are watchable and interesting, sometimes he leaves the information/emotional landscape which underlie the Protagonist's decision undefined and shadowy. We are left then, in the end, to only guess as to the reasons of the Protagonist's depth of feeling, and how he can be sure that his decision is the Right one. These men don't look back.

This one's in color (unlike the first few films in the Moral Tales series). The films in this series end somewhat abruptly, and as the FIN burns on the screen, you may find yourself with some questions. In this way, these films are good conversation-starters.

DEVIL IN A BLUE JEAN
Hélène, Frédéric's young and lovely wife, is the whole day long at home with her child. Frédéric, a successful businessman, likes to work during lunch hours and to walk in the streets of Paris in the afternoon in order to admire the beautiful lonely girls. He reads Captain Cook's travel books and daydreams a lot. He lives the "bourgeois" life by excellence.

Then come Chloe and Temptation. In fact, why not enjoy life and do like everybody else ? A wife for the saturday nights and a girlfriend for the rest of the week ! And Chloe is so fragile, she just wants a child from him. Is Frédéric going to fall ? Watch CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON, the last of Eric Rohmer's moral tales, and try not to succumb to the disguises of the devil.

Like in the Holy Bible, the Devil can have different faces : in Frédéric's vision, Lucifer is hidden behind the faces of the women appearing in the two precedent Rohmer's movies : MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S and CLAIRE'S KNEE. Superb idea !

In CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON, Rohmer's actors sound more professional than in the french director's other movies. But it's just an impression because if you take a look at the filmography of most of these actors, you scarcely will find other movie credits. It surely takes a while to get rid of the impression that these actors don't play well ; they are amateurs (at least, I think so !) playing according to Eric Rohmer's notion of Reality. His Reality.

As always, sound and audio are of VHS quality. No more. No extra-feature except a scene access (Is it a bonus feature, anyway ?).

A DVD dedicated to Bill. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

There's a lot to like about this video.
The entire movie is in French but can still be understood. Very intellectual story about two french girls who meet at a party. One accepts the other's offer to stay at her home. When her father comes home and is cleverly "fixed-up" with the other girl, a discussion about Math and Philosophy ensues. This would be easier to follow if it were dubbed into English. Beautiful girls. I first saw this on Bravo. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

what a fresh french movie!!! I'm still in love with it!
I really don't have words to describe how sweet and delicated this movie is!!! I am still so in love with this movie; it can make me fly, just like in a dream... And the story is so real... Everyone can live a beautiful and modern story like that. When will I wake up from this fresh dream?

A very sweet story
Well, first of all i'm absolutely enchanted by the film. It's amazing how this script can be so simple and so interesting at the same time. Everything is perfect, specially the beautiful beaches of Britanny and the magnificient perform of Amanda Langlet as Margot.
There he was, Gaspar a young musician tourist, resting alone from his Maths studies in a paradisiac island dealing with cross-relations with three uncomparable women: Lena, wild beautiful but without any brain, Solene beautiful, determined and warm, and the lovely Margot, the most interesting character in the hole story, his friend and listener of his youth emotional confusions about the other two girls. I think Eric's design the Gaspar character as a perfect grown-up teenager...I don't believe how can a boy could not fell in love with a girl like the no less good-looking Margot. In fact she is very very beautifull...i confess i wouldn't resist to her charming presence.
My sincere congratulations to Amanda Langlet, you've conquered a big fan!

the convolutions of young love
Thoroughly enjoyable. Though I found the "I've learned nothing" ending a little difficult, but probably realistic. The characters are interesting and engaging, and in the case of Margot, enchanting. Though we may not have all experienced exactly these circumstances, the youthful difficulties of sorting out love and attachment ring true.

A Rohmer Gem
Summer's Tale (1996), dir. Eric Rohmer (Winstar DVD, 2000)

Reminds somewhat of Claire's Knee, similar lush landscapes, water resort type of setting, plenty of gorgeous beaches somewhere in the Atlantic side of France (Brittany), and of course typical Rohmer cinematography (Diane Baratier). Immensely entertaining, despite minimal action.

This is the third of a series of Tales of the Four Seasons (reminding of Vivaldi's?), and possibly the most enticing. Like most Rohmer's stories, it isone of relationships on the verge of dissolution, or, rather, in a state a flux. No relationship in a Rohmer tale seems to be of a permanent nature-all seem to evolve, shift, fade, and come to life only to fade again, like the direction of a wind on the sand dunes.

The format is similar to the others: one male, making choices between several females; one female choosing and rejecting suitors (Autumn Tale). Almost always, it seems a question of choices. In this case, a young man, Gaspard (Melvil Poupard), arrives at this seaside resort, to compose music on his guitar, while awaiting the arrival of his girlfriend Lena, who is to be there soon in the company of some cousins. Gaspard seems to have nothing else in mind but his music, but he does attract the attention of a young waitress, Margot (Amanda Langlet), with whom he starts a sort of platonic relationship. He has a Master's in mathematics, and she is a Ph.D. in ethnology. They take several walks together and exchange ideas, but no romance evolves. Margot is delicate, respecting his attachment to another girl, but evidently she likes him. Another girl, Solene (Gwenaelle Simon), vacationing there with her uncle and aunt and some friends, makes a stronger and more physical impression on him. But he is held back when she tells him that "on principle" she doesn't sleep with anyone on a first date. She in an in-between situation, having just "dumped" two former boyfriends. Solene does like Gaspard, though, but when he tells her he is waiting for Lena, she attempts to force him to make a decision: either her or me. Gaspard, not used to making decisions, wavers. Lena arrives in the meantime, but she, quite unlike the other two girls, is not always as well disposed and friendly. Her moods change constantly, "black and white" Gaspard calls them. She walks away in a fit of temper, so Gaspard now falls back on Solene, and when she turns moody, goes back to Margot, who by now feels like being the "substitute of a substitute." Gaspard only has a couple of days left for his vacation (the dates of each episode are flashed on the screen), but then Solene calls him and asks for a date, at 8:30 that evening; but then a few moments later, Lena, evidently in a turnabout "white" mood, also asks for a date, at 8:00 that evening, and he calls Margot to ask her advice; Margot, however is busy with her waitress chores-she will call back. Gaspard panics; what is he to do with three dates? But a phone call comes in the meantime, a friend telling Gaspard he has secured the purchase of a stereo he needed for a bargain price ($600 down immediately), which Gaspard has to borrow from his first month's upcoming job. This call saves him. Why bother about keeping his dates with these silly girls when his glorious music career is so promising? He is happy! One phone call has disentangled all these relationships.

He does tell Margot, though, who understands, and takes him to the boat. Ideally, she is could have been the one.

All three girls are attractive, Solene being the sexiest and the most evidently certain of her allurements. Lena has the most perfect body but the hardest of dispositions. Margot, somewhat chubby, is still good-looking, nicely disposed, and brainier than Gaspard. All are female temptations for this indecisive young Don Juan, who possesses all his male desires, but who understands nothing of what is called commitment.

The story is not a sad one; Rohmer is adepts in avoiding the pitfalls of sentimentality. There is not love at first sight (or the second one), and physical passion is not the animalistic urge one sees in most American movies-whether the male is Michael Douglas or Brad Pitt. Gaspard is not particularly controlled at certain moments, but his emotional side is not ardent-taking a back seat to his "plans" (never quite stated). His relationships with these girls are fluid, more matters of the moment than what is seen as passionate preludes to triumphant love. But that is what the stuff of life is made of. Love here is not as in Jane Austen stories: a commitment that will eventually define moral character as well. In Austen, commitment to a person one loves becomes the primary consideration. Romantic love also thrives on that. It presupposes a sterling honesty, a purity of feeling if you like, that must remain unadulterated through thin and thick. But Rohmer does not give us romantic characters, and rather bursts the balloon of that delusion called romantic love-though does incline to the platonic variety; the latter suits his cast members better-a great deal of talk of friendship in the movie. Friendship (platonic preference) stays, does not demand or brawl as an obligation, and does not drag the body into the messy relationship. Gaspard actually does develop a platonic setup with Margot-and both are forced to be content with that, having not achieved the other sort. They will see each other again, somewhere.

Beautifully told. An unpretentious tale that does not promise much, and what it delivers is an extra reward. Watching such a movie is a constant pleasure, one that one does not want to give up. All the moments between these four people are precious, nothing is wasted. The groupings are quite special-mostly two people against a lushly photographed background-waves, a flat and wide beach, a room, some country paths, and some scenes on a boat. As usual, there is no musical score, but there is music, only that which is heard in the background or sung by the participants. Complex simplicity, and unpretentious beauty-Rohmer trademarks.

A fortnight by the sea in charming company.
Gaspard, played by Melvil Poupaud, is a song writer, a good-looking but dull young man, a gauche loner with a flat voice and an inexpressive face who comes to this delightful holiday island of Dinard off the Brittany coast to await the arrival of his "sort-of" girl friend, who demonstrates how much she loves him by keeping him waiting for two weeks. During those two weeks, however, he finds two other girl friends - or rather they find him. It must be his good-looks, it can't be anything else. First he is picked up in a restaurant by Margot, a waitress, who turns out not to be a waitress but an Ethnologist, just helping out her aunt who owns the restaurant. Obviously such a bright and intelligent girl could not be merely working-class!

Amanda Langlet, who plays Margot and who appeared ten years earlier in Rohmer's "Pauline at the Beach." is clearly the star of this film. Much of the enjoyment of the film is derived from being in the company of this vivacious girl and being allowed to eavesdrop on her talk with Gaspard about love and relationships as they roam in the bright sunlight around this lovely French sea-side resort and the countryside beyond. She is such a very warm and sympathetic listener that it is difficult to understand why he doesn't fall in love with her. Why she doesn't fall in love with him is easier to understand. (you ask yourself; is this man a very good actor or a very bad one?) He makes a couple of inept attempts to move the relationship forward but is repulsed; she wants only friendship - and you feel he is lucky to get that - while she awaits the return of her Anthropologist boy-friend who is away in South America. Gaspard's dullness is made obvious when she takes him to hear an old sailor sing sea-shanties; her face so eager and enrapt as she listens intently; his face, alongside, so lifeless.

She encourages him to take up with Solene, played by Gwenaelle Simon in her first film, a friend of her's who they meet at a dance, but when he does, she is jealous, jealous of their friendship she says but secretly hurt that he now thinks of her as only a friend.

His relationship with Solene seems idyllic at first, they seem marvelously happy and well suited to each other. He is accepted warmly into her family, they all go sailing together and have a merry sing-a-long to one of his songs. But then, sadly, her true nature shows; she becomes aggressive and demanding, insisting that he take her to the island of Quessant or their relationship is at an end. And now Lena, his "sort-of" girl friend, played by Aurelia Nolin, appears and insists that he take her instead. He must now choose.

Rohmer's films are never plot-dependent; he prefers to dwell on the characters, to bring us into a close, intimate relation with them, while they reveal themselves in talk. And when the characters are as attractive as Margot, who could ask for anything more? ... Read more

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This unique retelling of the tale of Perceval is a great and glorious anomaly in Eric Rohmer's career. Adapted by Rohmer from the 12th-century book by Chrétien de Troyes, it marries ancient theater, medievalpainting, music, and prose in a beautifully stylized film narrated in couplets by a chorus of singers and musicians playing traditional instruments, and often by the actors themselves. Fabrice Luchini glows with naïve innocence and wide-eyed wonder as the child-man Perceval, an ignorant but well-meaning young lord raised in isolation, who vows to become a knight after catching his first sight of what he believes to be godly beings. Fumbling through a whole new world of experiences on his quest, he takes his mother's advice to heart all too literally, leading to awkward, humorous, and sometimes tragic consequences, but he reaches the court of King Arthur, where he is knighted and begins his life of chivalry and good deeds. Rohmer builds his world on a huge circular set where bulbous metal sculptures stand in for trees, flat storybook castles look like giant cardboard toys, and the horizon is a backdrop painting. The story denies the expectations of modern storytelling, opting for an episodic series of lessonlike vignettes, culminating in a highly theatrical Passion play (featuring Luchini in the role of Christ). Perceval is a lovely and loving odyssey into the very nature of stories and storytelling, and one of the most original and unique visions in modern cinema. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Wonderful film for medieval music lovers
Interesting everyone here seems either to hate this film or love it. Little in between. I found the "fake" sets fascinating because they were very effectively evocative of medieval manuscript illuminations -- in fact the whole film seemed like a manuscript motion. The way the musicians stand in consort, the way the ladies hold their hands, etc., resemble countless examples seen in paintings and manuscripts of the 15th century and before. The music is unfailingly authentic: any that is not sung to actual 13th century French melodies is stylistically perfect. Then there are the occasional snippets of actual well-known pieces, such as the lament of Richard the Lion-Hearted that appears briefly in purely instrumental form. I recommend it, but if you would tend to be turned off by the things the negative reviewers harp on, see something else. The things people have written here are factually correct; whether it strikes you as fabulous or unconscionable will depend entirely on your personal sensibilities and taste.

"I want your love as a reward."
Eric Rohmer's film "Perceval" is the story of the Arthurian knight. The script is based on the 12th century novel by Chretien de Troyes. The role of Perceval is played by a very young Fabrice Luchini. When the film begins, Perceval is a callow youth who lives with his widowed mother. He encounters some knights, and he's so fascinated by them, he decides he wants to be one too. This film retells Perceval's adventures.

The sets are very amateurish--no doubt deliberately so. The castles appear to be made of cardboard and many of the distant scenes are paintings. The sets are more fitting for a stage play. Throughout the film, musicians play medieval-style instruments, and honestly, this was one of the best parts of the film. The jousting scenes are ridiculously simple, and the sword fights--awful.

Some of the characters are just downright bizarre. One actress looks as though she has a starched octopus stuck on her head, and one of the musicians looks like a deranged jester. Fabrice Luchini is one of my favourite actors, but his talent did not shine through in this role. Perceval is selfish and shallow. Another knight says of Perceval "this lad hasn't much wit, but he's well born." And that sums it up. Rohmer's Perceval is not noble or good--in fact, he's a bit thick. The portrayal of King Arthur is no better. The film seemed to make an effort when portraying courtly love, and that is to be commended.

One of the most annoying things about this film is the manner in which characters stop talking to each other and begin to narrate in the third person. For example, a damsel spoke directly to Perceval and then faced the camera and announced "she led him to her room." This sort of shift to third person was distracting and frequent.

Eric Rohmer is one of my favourite directors. His films are intellectual feasts, yet this film did absolutely nothing for me--displacedhuman

CHRETIEN DE TROYES' ORIGINAL GRAIL FANTASY
Eric Rohmer's French adaptation of Chretien de Troyes' 12th-century story of the Grail Quest is a unique, highly experimental film that alternates between hypnotic allure and apathetic disenchantment. Filmed on blatantly artificial but picturesque sets more reminiscent of a play than a film, Rohmer's episodic tale of the naive Perceval and his quest for knightly glory never quite lives up to its literary pedigree. The cast, which comes complete with a prominent chorus, is for the most part excellent, though Fabrici Luchini as the title character is outdone by Pascale de Boysson's much smaller but more convincing performance as Gauvin. The biggest problem with Rohmer's film is that he and Luchini set Perceval up less as the raw, untutored but essentially noble youth of Chretien's book than as a truly stupid, selfish boor, thereby undercutting much of the story's age-old appeal. Rohmer's Perceval is too callow to engender much viewer sympathy, and only begins to show signs of growth near the very end of the film, when it's too late (for the viewer, anyway!). Moreover, while the surreal set design is usually one of the movie's assets, the lack of realism definitely affects the several fight scenes, which fail to ever be more than cartoonish. Some may also resent the movie's lack of a real ending, but in fact that's part of the original story's enigmatic charm: Chretien didn't finish the book, so Rohmer is just beeing faithful to his source material. Overall, Rohmer's Perceval is an earnest, largely admirable production that gets high marks for sincerity and originality. But the movie's inability to capture the original book's character and spirit is an undeniably major flaw. Because of this drawback, and the film's sheer unconventionality, I only recommend Perceval to die-hard Arthurian fans (like myself). Others may be better off with the likes of Excalibur and Knights of the Round Table, more conventional American films that are both more accessible than Rohmer's piece and moreover provide versions of Perceval more in line with this reviewer's opinion of how the character should be realized.

Psychadelic and gothic dreamyness prevails
Combine some modern - looking sculpted metal stage props with neon sand, then add rich gothic singing, and you have Perceval.

At first, I sat watching the movie thinking "ok what did I get myself into?" because the singing irked me at first. Then I got used to it, and it became a chief and quite ingenious form of communication between the narrator, the actors, and the audience. Knowing a little bit of French eases the rapidity of a foreign language versus flashy subtitles.

The story fails to get boring at any point, and the film is upbeat and interesting from every angle you look at it.

Perceval is a lovable film with romance, duty, and gothic mysticism interwoven throughout. There's a small bit of nudity, but nothing offensively portrayed in a hardcore fashion. It's not your typical independent French film!

Not your typical Rohmer
This movie is extremely stylized and not at all like Rohmer's other films. I'm a big Rohmer fan and was really disappointed by it. It is spoken in the original (?) dialogue of the Perceval story and is filmed entirely on intentionally fake-looking sets. You'll only like this movie if if you're actually interested in seeing a theatrical version of Perceval. ... Read more

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Abrasive, self-deluded humor tinges the prickly exploration ofsexual politics in French director Eric Rohmer's world and it often makes for less-than-comfortable viewing. Though Rohmer has made movies forseveral decades, his best-known films comprise a cycle loosely dubbed "The Six Moral Tales" (one short, one featurette, and four features), which also includes La Collectionneuse, My Night at Maud's, and Chloe in the Afternoon. Rohmer's comedies are full of the disillusion and jaded settling that come withage and adulthood, and he sharply contrasts cynicism against the naivetéand easy, innocent wisdom of youth. In Claire's Knee, Jean-Claude Brialyplays a diplomat named Jerome Montcharvin, who agrees to housesit a friend'srural but lavish country estate for a month. Jerome appears contented with lifeas he's recently become engaged to Lucinde, a woman he's known for six years.He takes refuge in the fact that she is his opposite, and placates his doubts by reminding himself that "a woman made for me would bore me." Into this summer idyll and Jerome's predictable, ordered life come two teenage girls who threaten his faithful but passionless ardor for his fiancée. Totemper his awakening libido, Jerome pretends to "experiment" with the youngwomen's affections and, in doing so, exposes himself as a cruel, callous manwho is clueless as to his true nature. Though a close woman friend cautionshim that "in love, there is will," he dismisses the possibility yet in the end performs an act of "pure will" with one of the teens, the lovelyClaire, and brashly hurts that which he most desires. Claire's Knee was shotby the brilliant cinematographer, the late Nestor Almendros, and the colorpalette in the film is a masterpiece of style and scheme. It's a Monet oncelluloid, and its visual prowess, combined with the provocative, unsettling theme,earned the National Society of Film Critics' Best Film prize in 1971.--Paula Nechak ... Read more

Reviews (12)

LET'S SIT DOWN AND CHAT
First of all, a huge thanks to Winstar for bringing the movies of french director Eric Rohmer in the DVD market. This director is one of the world major directors of the last 40 years, a child of the Nouvelle Vague. CLAIRE'S KNEE is the fifth of the moral tales serie, shot directly after the masterpiece MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S.

Like all Eric Rohmer's movies, CLAIRE'S KNEE is in a certain way hypnotic, in the medical sense of the word. Because you will pass 100 minutes to listen to actors who are saying the most deep philosophical truths while playing tennis, eating or climbing mountains. Most of the actors are non professional but it doesn't matter ; you will be so interested in the dialogs and in each gesture of the characters that you won't have the time to remark that Robert De Niro is not on the screen.

The place : the Lake of Annecy's surroundings, near Geneva, Switzerland. The argument : a diplomat on holidays, on the verge of getting married, encounters two young girls, 16 and 18 years old. During three weeks, he will try to seduce them in order to prove to himself that he is ready for marriage and cannot fall in love with another woman. It's very difficult to summarize a screenplay which gives such importance to the silences of the characters. So, be curious !

Nothing to be mad about the extra-features and the audio and video transfers.

A DVD for the fetishists ones.

"At the same time, it was my good deed."
In my early teens, I was lucky enough to see my first-ever foreign films--"Belle de Jour" (Luis Bunuel), and "Claire's Knee" (Eric Rohmer). Both films were a major revelation to me, and both films triggered a life-long love of French cinema.

"Claire's Knee" is film 5 in director Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales series, but it is not necessary to watch the other films in the series to make sense of "Claire's Knee." However, Rohmer films are really only for the serious French film aficionado. Rohmer's critics charge that his films are pretentious and boring, and while it is true that Rohmer films are not noted for their action sequences, nonetheless, I find his films fascinating and re-watch many of them when I have the chance. Most of Rohmer's films are full of conversations between characters, and if you find the characters interesting, or if the issues they face intrigue you, then you may enjoy Rohmer films. However, if you dislike one Rohmer film, you will probably dislike them all. And no one seems to be blase on the subject--he's a director whose films you either love and rave about or you loathe and avoid.

Rohmer seems to have an obsession with French people on holiday, and "Claire's Knee" is not an exception to that. In "Claire's Knee," middle-aged writer Jerome visits his holiday home which he is preparing to sell prior to his upcoming marriage to long-time girlfriend, Lucinde. Jerome meets fellow writer and long-time acquaintance, Aurora, who is staying with a female friend and her 2 teenage daughters, Laura and Claire. Aurora professes to be in the midst of a struggle with a fictional character--an older man who is obsessed with younger girls. Jerome makes a strange bargain with Aurora, and he agrees that he will encourage Laura to fall in love with him. Aurora claims that observing the relationship Jerome has with Laura will help her solve the plot difficulties she is experiencing. Is Aurora's interest in encouraging a relationship between Jerome and Laura motivated by dispassionate intellectual curiosity as she claims, or is there something darker afoot? And why does Jerome agree to indulge Aurora?

But Laura, in spite of her youth and inexperience, possesses a charming wisdom that unnerves Jerome, so he begins to focus, instead, on the worldly, less introspective and more experienced Claire. Jerome quickly becomes obsessed with the idea of touching Claire's knee.

Aurora maintains that in a novel sometimes what doesn't happen is as interesting as what does happen, and that idea of the interest in non-action is never clearer than in Rohmer's films. In "Claire's Knee," the fascination with the non-occurrence is carried out with sheer perfection, and the interest remains in the question--'what actions will a character take in a certain situation?' Rohmer is a very prolific director, but the languorous film "Claire's Knee" remains one of my very favourites. Keep an eye open for a very young Fabrice Luchini in the role of Vincent, Laura's boyfriend-displacedhuman

Avoid this DVD
Great film, but terrible transfer. If you watch this film for the first time on this DVD, you will get a very bad impression of this great film. So avoid it. But anyway there is never to expect much quality from FLA.

A poor transfer of a delightful film
As a film, "Claire's Knee" retains its charm and is a pleasure to see every couple of years. I had bought the DVD assuming the image and sound would be superior to the VHS version but was disappointed by the poor quality of the transfer. The image is not sharp and the color, which should be vibrant, is washed out and poorly balanced. Moreover, I was anticipating the film would be presented in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, but it is full-frame instead. The image looks so flat and lacking in resolution that one could almost suspect that the DVD had been made from a VHS copy. Whatever the source for the transfer was, it's truly a pity Fox Lorber should be satisfied to sell such a mediocre product.

Get Over It!
This is my favorite film by one of the greatest (and subtlest) writer/directors in world cinema, and its distressingly mediocre rating from so many reviewers here seems solely due to the American cultural hangup with an older man flirting with younger girls. But the absurdity of such attractions is exactly what this movie is about! The character of Jerome spends the entire film articulately rationalizing away his very real desire for a young girl who disdains him--finally fixating upon a single touch of her knee as a way to expiate any power she seems to hold over him. This film is about a man struggling with his own weakness and his own denial. There is absolutely nothing unseemly in any of Eric Rohmer's handling of this subject, and, indeed, the character of 15-year-old Laura, the girl who is kissed and embraced by the older Jerome, is one of the most knowing and self-possessed characters in the film. Her ultimate snub of Jerome when, too-little-too-late, he comes to appreciate her, is a key to the subtle humiliation to which Rohmer subjects Jerome. This film is a masterful examination of how people can speak one way and *act* another because of the power of their desires, and anyone who finds it offensive in some way should just get over it! Take your cultural baggage somewhere else. ... Read more

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French director Eric Rohmer, former critic and Cahiers du Cinema editor, created a very special romantic film series around the difficult choices men make when they fall in love with two women called "Six Moral Tales." My Night at Maud's was the third entry, and it was so well received in 1969 that it gave Rohmer international prominence. To this day, it remains Rohmer's masterpiece, a brilliantly insightful and sublime meditation on adult indiscretions. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a chaste engineer who thinks he's met his soul mate in church (Marie-Christine Barrault), yet winds up accidentally spending the night with the seductive Maud (Francoise Fabian), who is more his intellectual equal. Filmed in stark black and white by Nestor Almendros, this is one of those rare films in which questions about philosophy translate into unexpected answers about the heart. It's slow and methodical, but well worth the experience. --Bill Desowitz ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Rohmer at His Best
This is the fourth and best of Eric Rohmer's six moral tales. Like many of Rohmer's films, "My Night at Maud's" is about the search for a life-partner, temptation and fidelity. Also, like most Rohmer films, "My Night at Maud's" is made up mainly of conversation's, and some might find it "boring" or "just talking." But the conversations are interesting and intellectually stimulating, and, at the films end, the last piece of the puzzle falls into place.
An engineer (Jean-Louis Trintignant) becomes infatuated with a woman he sees in Church (Marie-Christine Barrault). But before he is able to ask her out, he spends the night at the apartment of Maud (Francoise Fabian) trying to be faithful to his Catholic values by resisting her attempts at seduction. (I won't spoil the film by telling you how his night with Maud ends.) He later meets, dates, and eventually marries the woman from Church. Years later, after running into Maud at the beach, he discovers that his wife has a connection to Maud. (Again, I won't spoil the film by telling you what it is.)

My Night With Rohmer
There are few filmmakers whom I can say truly put me in a good mood and Rohmer is one of those filmmakers. What I love about Rohmer's films is the delicacy and the subtleness in them.
"My Night At Maud's" was the third film in Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales". And many see it not only as the best of the six, but, also as Rohmer's best film. And, they have a good case to give it that credit.
To those who are unaware of the story it goes something like this, and I'll try not to reveal any major plot-points.
A young man, Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is searching for the perfect mate. A woman who must share his religious beliefs, which are catholic, and his views of love. He has set quite a high standard for himself, considering it's the "modern world". Where religion doesn't really play a big part in most people lives or at least in the women whom he meets. That is until he meets a beautiful blond,Francoise (Marie-Christine Barrault) in of all places, church! He soon finds himself, along with a friend, Vidal (Antoine Vitez) spending the night at Maud's. A "modern" woman with "modern" views. These two seem to be as different as they come. She is not really what he's looking for and he is too "old-fashion" for her.
What happens afterwards is truly priceless. As Rohmer has made a film that is about as funny as a film could be dealing with sexual morals. It also has some of the "smartest" dialogue I've ever heard. If you've never seen a Rohmer film, this is a wonderful place to start. One of the best French films of all-time and one of the true "classics" in cinema.
"My Night At Maud's" was nominated for two Oscars; "Best Foreign Film" and "Best Screenplay". It was also hailed as the best film of the year in 1970 by the late Gene Siskel.

This film is so tight!
Sublime. To me, this stealthily thrilling film exploits both the living quality of a theatrical performance and the privileged intimacy that cinema offers -- close-ups, mobile perspectives, and so on. Rohmer's tale seems put together to resemble a peculiarly intrusive documentary, an impossibly close piece of observational cinema. Half the joy of experiencing his fiction stems from the convincing impression that one is (secretly) watching a group of interesting adults socializing spontaneously in the manner of their culture and class. The other half of one's pleasure lies in the awareness, as the film concludes, that an intricate and subtle structure has been unfolding and cleverly weaving the tale's elements together all along. Rohmer's film works on several levels, and is well worth viewing by the socially curious and the open-minded.

Don't bother
Lame-o, Shmame-o. Horribly dated and boring beyond belief!

Romer at his most conversational
"The heart has it reasons which reason knows nothing of." --Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

This is the Eric Romer film they warned you about. There is a lot of talk, talk, and more talk. But the talk is very interesting. One of the main topics of discussion is Pascal's famous wager. Pascal believed that if there is even the slightest chance of the Christian heaven being true, then as a matter of probability, one ought to be a believer. Even a minuscule chance of everlasting paradise is worth the bet because infinity (eternity) times even a very small number is infinity. And, of course, if not believing puts one in however small the danger of eternal damnation, then again one should be a believer. But, as Vidal (Antoine Vitez) sagely remarks in the movie, infinity times zero is still zero.

Jean-Louis Trintignant stars as a 34-year-old Catholic mathematician who has a way with women. He runs into his old school chum, Vidal, who introduces him to Maud (Francoise Fabian), who has a way with men. Funny but they don't quite hit it off even though she manipulates him into spending the night with her. Their conversation is witty, subliminal and revealing. Maud believes in the supremacy of love, Jean-Louis in being morally flexible. Although a believing and practicing Catholic, he tells Maud that one is not going against God's will by chasing girls anymore than one is going against God's will by doing mathematics.

The girl that Jean-Louis is currently chasing is 22-year-old Francoise (Maire-Christine Barrault) a blonde, Catholic girl that he has spied at church. At first it seems that although he is certain that she is perfect for him, she is reluctant. They too fence with words as they try to mislead and reveal at the same time, and the audience is intrigued, so much so that at times you might forget you are watching a movie. In this sense a Romer film is like a stage play. Whereas contemporary directors try to get by with as little dialogue as possible, to let the action itself reveal character, Romer is not shy about using dialogue to reveal character, plot, theme--the whole works.

The film begins with a long close shot of Francoise's profile as she listens in church, turning twice briefly to face the camera. She is pretty and intriguing. Although we won't realize it until the movie is mostly over, she is the focal point of the balance between the world views of Jean-Louis and Maud. After the night at Maud's during which Maud uses her intuition and sly intelligence to figure out Jean-Louis's character, he spends the night with Francoise. She uses her instincts to figure out not his character so much as his aptness for her. And then it is revealed how Francoise figures twice in the life of Maud. I won't anticipate the revelation, but be sure and watch for it. Suffice it to say that there are two reasons that Francoise is far from Maud's favorite person! The film ends, as French films often do, with the ironic affirmation of bourgeois values.

For today's DVD hound this movie will play slowly or not at all. The use of dialogue as something over and above the plot and action of the film will seem demanding and perhaps old fashioned. The deliberately drawn out scenes at church may cause you to yawn. But I recommend you stay with it. The movie has a quality that lingers long after the action is gone. The underlying philosophy about the nature of human love and how it conflicts or is compatible with reason and/or religion really does reflect to some extent the quotation above from Pascal, whose spirit is akin, although he denies it, to that of Jean-Louis, the careful protagonist of this very interesting film. ... Read more

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After Eric Rohmer completed his "Six Moral Tales," and before launching into the "Comedies and Proverbs," he tackled two projects very different from anything else in his career. In the first of these, The Marquise of O, based on the novel by Heinrich von Kleist, Rohmer leaves the young intellectuals of Paris for Italy during the Napoleonic wars. During the Russian invasion, the beautiful young marquise (Edith Clever) is saved from certain assault by a handsome and dashing count (Bruno Ganz). She spends the night guarded by her chivalrous savior, who returns months later to rather insistently court her. Only when he leaves does she discover that she is, unaccountably, pregnant. Rohmer's style is both more lush (shot in rich colors by Néstor Almendros) and lessintimate than his previous romantic comedies, directed in painterly compositions at a removed distance. Unlike the self-obsessed young adults of his modern films, the count and the marquise act out of moral duty and social responsibility, and their actions reverberate through family and community. Yet this is still a Rohmer film, filled with carefully tooled dialogue (spoken in German) and informed by irony. The story of innocence and corruption, and the shades that lie within even the best of men, ends on a note of delicate forgiveness and understanding. Rohmer followed this with an even more unexpected stylistic experiment, the beautiful and beguiling Perceval. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Gorgeous cinematography!
Eric Rohmer's 1976 take on Heinrich Von Kleist's story "The Marquise of O" is a movie right up my alley. While I'm not necessarily a fanatic about foreign films, I do love watching period piece pictures. Rohmer's picture may well be the best period film I have ever seen, and that includes Kubrick's masterful "Barry Lyndon." What surprised me even more after watching this film was finding out it is one of the few period pieces Rohmer has made in his long career. I read up on the man in the process, discovering that most of his other films are considerably different from this one. Rohmer is actually French, born Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer in Lorraine, France in 1920. After a short career as a novelist and film critic, he moved into the world of filmmaking in 1955. Critics associate Rohmer with the French New Wave school of filmmaking, placing him squarely alongside more recognizable names like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. The director ran into a few snags in his early career, toiling in obscurity for quite awhile as he continued to write about film until his first hit in 1969, "Ma nuit chez Maud." Rohmer's pictures deal with "arty" themes, moral quandaries such as infidelity and clashing value systems. Some of his French stuff sounds quite above my head, so I'm glad I saw this German language piece based on a story I am at least familiar with.

"The Marquise of O," set during the Napoleonic turmoils of nineteenth century Europe, focuses on the misfortunes of lovely young lady known as the Marquise (Edith Clever). Her father is a colonel who must surrender the town he is defending to the Russians. One of these Russian soldiers, a noble officer referred to as the Count (Bruno Ganz), saves the Marquise from a band of rapacious Slavic soldiers. Later, when he takes the barely conscious woman to her family's house, he revisits her in the middle of the night in a scene with deeply suspicious overtones. Fast forward a bit, when the Count comes to visit the Marquise and her parents. He proposes a marriage between himself and the young lady, much to the shock of everyone involved. The Marquise tries to put him off for a bit, but the Count is undeterred. He presses for a commitment, which apparently is a big no-no in the early nineteenth century as evidenced by the increasing sourness of the father and mother, but eventually settles in to wait. A complication arises when the Count learns he must head back to Russia to fill a post, an assignment he incredibly considers disobeying in order to stay near the Marquise. Her parents are appalled-what sort of man would spurn a direct order from the leader of his country? It soon becomes obvious why the Count tried to put off his trip.

The Marquise begins to feel unwell. As time progresses, she fears she may be pregnant, something the implications of which will be disastrous for her and her family. She's not married and doesn't have any overt suitors other than the Count, so aside from a miraculous virgin birth, someone's been up to no good. When her parents find out about what happened, the unfolding hysterics are quite something to watch. Nineteenth century Europe is a place and time when an unwed mother might as well commit suicide rather than birth a child. The pregnancy places the family's honor in grave jeopardy, which the Colonel will not allow. He disowns his child, banishing her from the house to a distant country estate. The Marquise's mother is torn, at first expressing outrage at her daughter's state and then softening later. A risky plan to reconcile the family involves placing an advertisement in the local newspaper seeking the father of the child. Even I groaned aloud at such an audacious endeavor. The locals do too, finding great amusement in the fact that a highborn woman doesn't know who fathered her child. And who did? We have a good idea, but must wait for it to play out at the end of the film.

I loved this film. The movie is all about how a strict sense of honor, fused with repressive ideas about how a woman should conduct herself, play out in a small family. While we may laugh over how concerned the characters are about the situation, and Rohmer certainly laughs as well, that doesn't make for a less interesting film experience. If "The Marquise of O" were nothing more than a quaint little picture about moral conundrums two hundred years ago, it would not merit attention. What sets the film apart is the sumptuous cinematography and compelling atmosphere. I don't know a whit about painted art, but it is obvious Rohmer set out to create a world resembling a painting. I shouldn't say ONE static painting, as the movie looks like one huge moving painting. The colors, atmosphere, and background are simply amazing to look at. Each frame of the film looks as though Rohmer carefully pulled it off a canvas. It's not as obvious as "Barry Lyndon," where Kubrick had his actors strike poses, but "The Marquise of O" looks like it should be hanging in the Louvre.

I suspect Rohmer's movie is the sort of project true thespians pray for everyday of their careers. No one takes a backseat to effects as even the war scenes are small and centered on the characters. What you do get instead are lengthy scenes of dialogue and tons of close-ups. If you dislike talky pictures, you'll need to skip "The Marquise of O." If you love conflict and moral predicaments, acting and meaningful dialogue, Rohmer's film should serve you well.

"I regret to see your passion has robbed you of your senses"
"The Marquise of O" is one of Eric Rohmer's historical films. This story takes place during the Franco-Prussian War. One night as the Russians attack, the Marquise, a young widow with two children, is assaulted by a band of Russian soldiers. Fortunately, she is rescued by a young Russian Count. Several months later, it becomes apparent that the Marquise is pregnant, and no one believes her protests that she hasn't touched a man since her husband died.

When the film begins, we are supposed to believe we are watching a scene from the Franco-Prussian War. The war really boils down to a few puffs of smoke and some of the plaster coming off of the ceiling. Rohmer just doesn't portray these sorts of BIG scenes well--I suspect budget--or the lack thereof--may be at the bottom of this. Anyway, the BIG scenes just don't work. They don't seem authentic at all. Then when the Count saves the Marquise from a fate that is apparently worse than death, it is a bit corny. But those are the bad bits. Get over that, and watch the rest of this film.

The very best things about this film are the philosophical questions raised by the dilemma of the pregnant Marquise and her pesky, persistent suitor--the Count. How does one accept a knight in shining armour who has fallen from his pedestal? Are the actions of the Count motivated by guilt? How does one align the fate of the Marquise's would-be-attackers with the behaviour of the Count? Is forgiveness possible? Also, the class attitudes were quite fascinating. When the Marquise discovers and accepts her pregnancy, the lower classes exhibit a sort of sly, knowing joy in her dilemma. Both the Dr and the midwife have seem these sorts of situations many times before, and they are all too familiar with the denials the frantic Marquise makes to her unbelieving family. The sudden, unwelcome familiarity--of both the Dr and the midwife--evident in their tone shifts when speaking to the Marquise--indicates that she is about to experience a decline in society.

I really enjoyed all the characters in the film very much. The Marquise's father was splendid--especially when he raised his pistol. The Marquise's mother swoons, hardens, and gets mushy at times, but then she decides to take the more practical approach and get to the bottom of the scandal--even if this necessitates some deception on her part. I found it amusing that the Count's persistence when courting the Marquise flummoxed everyone as his behaviour was beyond the socially accepted norms.

Eric Rohmer films are noted for their dialogue and the philosophical debates the characters have with one another as they wrestle with relevant issues. These debates are missing from this film--indeed Rohmer's historical films--are to me--not his best work. Nonetheless, that said, I did enjoy the film immensely--displacedhuman.

true to the Kleist--in spirit and text
Kleist's writing interests me because of the frailties and strengths of his characters. Is it possible to save a woman from rape, rape her yourself, seek to hide what you've done and to make ammends, and in the end still be something like a decent person? Maybe. Do good people do bad things? Yes. Is not a certain willingness to forgive weakness necessary between humans? Certainly.
Rohmer captures the feeling Kleist's story beautifully. He is careful to show the strengths of the women, they aren't passive and dominated within a patriarchal society--important in a film wherein the leading man commits rape, and the leading woman eventually forgives him.

Precious
If it is possible to be ostentatiously chaste, Eric Rohmer's THE MARQUISE OF O... is an example of it. Sometimes witty, always stunningly beautiful, the film is so self-consciously muted in style, so obviously different from the blare of standard Hollywood, it can't help calling attention to itself. It is thus not quite as modest as the style would suggest. Even understatement, pursued doggedly enough, can become a form of showing off. Besides, there is plenty to testify to Rohmer's ambitions.

Based on Heinrich Kleist's novella of the same name, MARQUISE is a perfect example of "literary cinema," with all the baggage such a label implies. None of Rohmer's films are meant for a mass audience. They announce their refinement with their limited situations, articulate characters and toney references. Here, after Kleist's novella, the primary proofs of cultural worth are painterly: set in the Napoleonic era, the film's visual style is obviously modeled after Neo-classical and early Romantic painters. With a heavy reliance on the skills of master cinematographer Nestor Almendros, Rohmer uses Kleist to create a cozy, Biedermeier world of diaphanous Empire gowns, heavy velvet draperies and formalized domestic routine.

In itself, there is nothing wrong with this. Certainly Rohmer's work is preferable to, and much more interesting than, such similarly respectable literary adaptations as the bloated, otiose and cinematically dreary Merchant/Ivory productions. No matter how precious or theatrical the film may get, you never doubt that you're in the presence of a real filmmaker. Rohmer has *chosen* to reduce the experience to essentials, he's refined and polished the experience to a high gloss, so there's nary a gesture, inflection, camera movement or lighting set up that hasn't been thought out in terms of the overall design.

Which no doubt structures how most people reaction to it. If you can respond to such highly mediated and controlled experiences, you will probably enjoy the film, not just for the delicious ironies of Kleist's story, but for the elegant skill with which it has been mounted. If you find such refinement insufferably mannered, pretentious and more than a bit self-preening, you'd best stay away. For myself, this is only one of three Rohmer films that I have seen. I found the other two almost unbearably arch. With the help of Kleist and Almendros, however, Rohmer makes MARQUISE into a delightful, visually exquisite comedy of manners.

A Top Ten Film Fairy Tale For Me
I better warn you that not everyone agrees with me on this film. Some people find it too understated and slow. However, it is more accurate to say that it is a fairy tale delivered in a very painterly manner. Since I am an artist, this enhances the film for me rather than acting as a negative. The visual style reminds me most strongly of a Vermeer painting. If you can get into the dry nature of it, the film is LOL funny in many parts. This was my first Bruno Ganz, the male lead, film and I thought he was wonderful. Most of writer-director Eric Rohmer's films remind us of Woody Allen's work, if he were French, with that accompanying cynical eye on relationships. This film is not like that except for the basic set up. Set back a few centuries, the young noblewoman believes that Ganz has saved her from rape one night during a war. Yet several months later she finds she is pregnant despite her savior's noble act that night. This film is also a happy-ever-after film, unlike most of Rohmer's other work. I can't say that this film really resembles Cocteau's "Beauty and The Beast" but if you enjoyed that fairy tale, you may well also enjoy this fairy tale. I love both of them although they are told and filmed quite differently. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Beware of Distraction . . .
One short point to add to the many excellent reviews of this movie, if you watch the early scene "Camille's Party" very carefully, ignoring the distraction of the conflict between Remi and Louise that brackets other key meetings, you may increase your enjoyment of this subtle French talkie. Or you may choose to view this scene again at the end of the movie. It's all there, clear as a bell, but one is distracted by the cameras attention to the neurotic young focus of the movie.

In fact, this is the only Rohmer movie out of half a dozen I've viewed where a couple clearly and emphatically makes the transition to a mature, happy and probably lifelong relationship. But it is mostly done off camera.

A couple of other tiny points: The married writer who pursues Louise is probably Rohmer's alter ego in the film, and Louise probably represents his neurotic early films that typically don't go anywhere. The movie also seems to have some message about the project-like surburbs with their cold metal facilities, vs. the warm hubub of Paris. In other Rohmer movies, Parisians retreat to georgeous country homes with gardens, or seaside villas, but pointedly not in this movie.

If you have known people like the characters in the film, who say they want to be alone but compulsively hang out with whoever is available, becoming distracted from their true goals; if you like irony and don't need everything spelled out, and like to think about movies, you will enjoy this one. If you just want a light romantic comedy, watch an American film.

Full Moon, Full Marks.
Director Eric Rohmer's FULL MOON IN PARIS is the fourth in his series of "Comedies and Proverbs" starring Pascale Ogier and Tcheky Karyo. To some, Rohmer is an acquired taste. You either embrace or dislike his style of filmmaking. He is one of the few directors that really know how to direct women. He has an uncanny knack of getting inside their minds, and Full Moon In Paris is no exception.

The story opens in Louise's (Pascale Ogier) apartment home in Marne-La-Vallee that she shares with boyfriend Remi (Tcheky Karyo). Remi is an architect and a home bird, while Louise is more the out going type. She is the very opposite to Remi's rather conservative personality. Although in love with him, she feels uncomfortable whenever they go out together, as she senses that Remi is ill at ease over her long hours of socializing. Ideally, she wants to move to Paris where she works as a designer so that she can enjoy the nightlife with her friends.

Enter Octave, played by Fabrice Luchini. Octave is a writer who is married with one child. He also happens to be Louise's confidant. There is a great scene in Octave's home, when Louise, who is trying to resist his advances, offer's her opinion about when women should have children. Ogier looks really beautiful in this scene, and I love her hairstyle. In someway her dress demeanor is like a montage. She's impish, sexy, and refined at the same time. As Octave says she is flirty without realizing it.

This encounter with Octave shows that Louise is a woman of some intellect. For instance, her observations of life are well defined. She is conscious that some women have a limbo period in their mid- twenties, and that nature is forcing her to re-examine her own life.
As she says herself, she has been in and out of relationships since she was fifteen, and now needs time and space to be on her own. She is not prepared to make a long-term commitment to Remi just yet, and fears if she did she would lose contact with her youth.

In a way, Remi's stifling persona is partly to blame for her problem. He is several years older than her, and cannot comprehend why she does not behave like he does. She is artistic and likes socializing. While he plays tennis and doesn't. Clearly in his thirties, Remi has enjoyed his life as a twenty something, but now wants to curtail Louise of that privilege by pressing her into marriage. In essence, Louise senses that Remi is killing her youth. (There is a common thread in Rohmer's films, about lovers from different generations falling in and out of love, and Full Moon continues this theme).

When Louise eventually moves into her old Parisian apartment, she tries to convince Remi that her decision to stay in Paris during weekdays, only returning to him at weekends, would be best for both of them. Alas, her wish to have a more independent lifestyle does not last, and the loneliness of staying at home without a partner is well underlined during this segment of the film.

Desperate to have some company she meets Octave in a café bar. Where during a trip to the ladies room, she almost stumbles upon Remi. When she returns she tells Octave what she had just seen. While he claim