Eric Rohmer

Synopsis:
The mayor (Pascal Greggory) of this unpolished provincial town has plans for a beautiful field on the edge of town, and he’s quite sure they will be put through the central government in time to help him with his political career. He intends to replace the field with a sports and “cultural” center, along with a large parking lot. The only overt opposition to this plan at the outset comes from an environmentally sensitive grammar school teacher (Fabrice Luchini), and he’s hardly a threat, because he doesn’t imagine he can successfully oppose the builders’ designs. Meanwhile, the mayor has fallen in love with one of the local representatives of the intelligentsia, a woman novelist (Arielle Dombasle). Trouble begins to percolate into the mayor’s life and thwart his plans when his daughter and the daughter of the schoolteacher become friends.
~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie GuideRead More »

Synopsis:
Thirty-four year old engineer Jean-Louis has just started a new job in Clermont. He leads a relatively solitary life not knowing anyone in town besides his work colleagues, he who has made a conscious decision that they should not become his de facto friends just because they work together. His choice not to socialize in town is due also in part to his situation and needing to make the long daily commute to/from Ceyrat where he currently lives. He has had his fair share of women over the course of his adult life, he now choosing to adhere more closely to his Catholic beliefs in approaching romantic and sexual relationships with women solely in the goal of love and marriage. Although not knowing her or having talked to her, he believes the pretty blonde he sees at church at Sunday morning services is the woman destined to be his wife.Read More »

Plot:
The costume drama Die Marquise von O is French director Eric Rohmer’s first feature-length theatrical release after a four-year break from filmmaking. Based on a novella by Henrich von Kleist, the dialogue is spoken in the original German language and the story is set in Italy during the 18th century. Edith Clever plays the widowed Marquise, who is sexually assaulted by Russian soldiers and rescued by a Count (Bruno Ganz). Some time later, she has to explain to her parents (Peter Lühr and Edda Seippel) and brother (Otto Sander) why she’s pregnant. Die Marquise von O won the Grand Jury Prize in the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. At least one of the home video releases and several capsule reviews erroneously state the film (and its parent novella) as unfolding during the Franco-Prussian wars, but both are actually set during the Napoleonic Wars, hence the presence of Russian troops.Read More »

Quote:
Six vignettes set in different sections of Paris, by six directors. St. Germain des Pres (Douchet), Gare du Nord (Rouch), Rue St. Denis (Pollet), and Montparnasse et Levallois (Godard) are stories of love, flirtation and prostitution; Place d’Etoile (Rohmer) concerns a haberdasher and his umbrella; and La Muette (Chabrol), a bourgeois family and earplugs.Read More »

Eric Rohmer’s mostly faithful staging of Heinrich von Kleist’s play Käthchen von Heilbronn. It was taped in 1979 at the Theatre des Amandiers, Nanterre for broadcast on French TV. After Die Marquise von O…, this is Rohmer’s second Kleist adaptation, and it features a lot of familiar faces in the Rohmersphere.Read More »

Quote:
A series of five stories told by Rosette about her vacation.

Rosette wrote:
“In the early 80’s, I started shooting Rosette’s adventures in Super 8. They were vacation films made in complete freedom with a family of friends I met in Eric’s world (Arielle, Pascal, Marie, Amanda, Béatrice, Virginie, François-Marie…). Eric, who had a camera, took care of the image and this allowed him to practice while having fun, sometimes he even played a small role. This lightness inspired him, I believe, for films like Le rayon vert or Quatre aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle.”Read More »

Présentation ou Charlotte et son steak (1960)

Quote:
Two young people, Walter and Charlotte, are walking through a small village in Switzerland a snowy winter day. Walter introduces Charlotte to Clara, hoping to make Charlotte jealous. After saying good-bye to Clara, Walter accompanies Charlotte into her house, although she doesn’t want him to. Charlotte is hungry and cooks a steak. She asks Walter if he wants a piece of it. He says no, but she gives him a small piece anyway. He wants a kiss, and she says no. She starts to compare herself with Clara, who Walter agrees is more beautiful. In spite of this, Walter says he likes Charlotte much more, but she thinks he is lying. She notices that he is cold and shivering. She hugs him, he kisses her, and she starts kissing him. After leaving the house he accompanies her to the train.Read More »

A shy maths graduate takes a holiday in Dinard before starting his first job. He hopes his sort-of girlfriend will join him, but soon strikes up a friendship with another girl working in town. She in turn introduces him to a further young lady who fancies him. Thus the quiet young lad finds he is having to do some tricky juggling in territory new to him.Read More »

Quote:
Pauline a la Plage is the third of French filmmaker Eric Rohmer’s “Comedies et Proverbes.” Pauline (Amanda Langlet) is the teen-aged cousin of the seemingly more worldly and sensible Marion (Arielle Dombasle). Both girls become entwined in amorous escapades while vacationing at the beach. It gradually develops that Marion is the one least capable of handling herself, while Pauline grows in maturity from her summertime experiences. It is nothing short of amazing how Eric Rohmer can take the most conventional and obvious of material and weave something as charming and profound as Pauline at the Beach. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviRead More »