Eric Rohmer: C/D

... coincidentally I watched A Tale of Summer last night, talking of pretty boys.

I've watched a bunch of his films recently. The only one I haven't liked is Astrea and Celadon, in which the erotic intent comes out flat. Reinette and Mirabelle was a nice surprise. It's a bit unstable -- the beauty of the first episode feels like a different movie from the hijinks of the last episode -- but I really liked it.

will read:

Where the book really shines is in constructing a through-line of Rohmer’s aesthetic and its consistency from theory to practice. The authors quote generously from Rohmer’s critical work and locate key tenets from the very beginning. “In contrast to graphic, purely visual expression, cinema makes use of the means that are specific to it and creates meaning when it moves about objects or bodies within the space of the frame and a flat surface, in accord with an organization inspired by nature,” de Baecque and Herpe comment when citing Rohmer’s very first published critical essay, “Le cinema, art de la espace.” from 1948. Cut to twenty years later, and the making of “My Night At Maud’s.” Preparing the room of the title character, Rohmer “spent hours placing this or that object” on the set. “One fine day, [lead actor Jean-Louis] Trintignant openly criticized Rohmer for paying less attention to him than to the ashtrays. To which the filmmaker replied ‘I’m less worried about you than about the ashtrays.’” The recounting of the shoots and the examination of the results eventually demolishes the idea of Rohmer as a paragon of talky semi-humanist cinema and assists in an appreciation of him as a sublime aesthete whose works are exquisitely crafted critiques of human vanity. Their moral value lies not in the lessons they may or may not impart, but in their perfection of form.

http://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/book-review-eric-rohmer-a-biography

Would read as well, but right now too cheap to buy a copy.

Loaded it up on my Kindle a month ago but stuck on a book about the divvying up of the Middle East.

Mubi put up two Rohmer films I haven't seen over the weekend. Will hopefully check them out this week.

I saw Full Moon in Paris, hard to find even on VHS, last night. I liked Jonathan Romney's review last year

Not all Rohmer films are tied indissolubly to their moment. The first in that series, The Aviator’s Wife (81), with its landscape of parks, cafés, and bedsits, is set in a Paris that would not have been so different two decades earlier, while some of his later films, including episodes in the “Four Seasons” series (90-98), could easily be made today without much discrepancy. But Full Moon in Paris* is entirely a snapshot of its instant. Visually and sonically, 1984 is present throughout. It’s there in the music, a frothy neo-yé-yé electro-pop score by duo Elli and Jacno, alumni of pioneering French punk band Stinky Toys (singer Elli Medeiros is glimpsed dancing in a party scene). And it’s there in the décor: grey walls, Mondrian prints, “witty” lamps (heroine Louise is a trendy creative who makes her own lights, presumably because she’s unable to afford Memphis creations). Other design touches include the neo-classical pillar in Louise’s apartment, and novelty furnishings like the trompe l’oeil sofa at her workplace (at first, I thought it was held together by masking tape, then realized it was painted to resemble the table in front of it, complete with vase of flowers—oh, that crazy design decade).

The results are mixed; I didn't entirely believe Louise's torment. But I can accept the argument that based on the evidence (Pauline on the Beach, Summer, Boyfriends and Girlfriends) the '80s were Rohmer's best decade.

http://www.filmcomment.com/blog/film-of-the-week-full-moon-in-paris/

the '80s were Rohmer's best decade.

I think that's true, with Rayon vert/Summer being the best.

I'm curious to see this, about the planned community Cergy-Pontoise which features in Boyfriends and Girlfriends. That's my favourite setting in a Rohmer film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27enfance_d%27une_ville

looks interesting - always fascianted by Cergy (the name comes from Ypsilon in reverse due to shape of the city, I mearn rather late). "Naissance des Pieuvres" also captures that 80's (sub)urban planning vibe.

“One fine day, [lead actor Jean-Louis] Trintignant openly criticized Rohmer for paying less attention to him than to the ashtrays. To which the filmmaker replied ‘I’m less worried about you than about the ashtrays.’”

Great quote.

This is lovely. Marie Rivière and Vincent Gauthier of The Green Ray meeting again for the first time in 28 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9suLKuabI

it is indeed, thanks for sharing

I've been to that cinema, very nice

Watched the Six Moral Tales. My favorite was My Night at Maud’s. It contained so much - the inhibitions of catholicism, the sense of unburdening in experiencing an all night conversation, the confusion about another’s thoughts, the guilt over temptation, the reinforcing of a self-interested moral stance. The photography in the film was also really beautiful

it’s hard to read the movies on first viewing, they are so psychologically complex

I thought La Collectionneuse and Suzanne’s Career were also pretty great

Maud's is also one of the great Xmas movies.

yes!

can see why Hong Sang-soo is compared to Eric Rohmer, with the casual unspooling of story lines and similar relationship themes from film to film

Claire’s Knee was maybe the most beautiful of all of them visually, but it was hard for me to appreciate the story

^^ my favorite movie of 2018

if you want a time capsule of a movie, watch Full Moon in Paris, in which an old French director grapple with characters with 1980s attitudes about fashion, music, interior design, etc.

*grapples

I think you're talking about Claire's Camera Alfred (which I am looking forward to seeing!) I was referring to the 1970 film

Full Moon in Paris is on my list!

I couldn't relate to the middle aged man obsessing over teenage girls in Claire's Knee, as beautiful as it was

The Bakery Girl of Monceau and Love in the Afternoon were both good I thought. Haven’t seen any of the later Rohmer films yet

So many good films.

Haven’t seen everything single thing, but don’t think I’ve seen one that I thought was a flop

I think you're talking about Claire's Camera Alfred (which I am looking forward to seeing!) I was referring to the 1970 film

dunno how I misread your post -- you're right

All the Moral Tales and the "Comedies & Proverbs" are classics. Full Moon in Paris, Suzanne's career and the Bakery Girl of Monceau are probably my faves.
Haven't watched any of his films in a while. I'm holding off til I finally decide to splash out on the full blu-ray box set.

Love in the Afternoon is so damn sensual, Rohmer has a thing with filming proximity between people

I love every Rohmer movie, guy was a real genius

really enjoyed watching Pauline at the Beach. I love the dialogue in his films

Here's what I'd keep.

I just watched "La Collectionneuse" not two hours ago.

only seen a few but La Collectionneus didn't work for me, characters too self aware and too idle to feel consequence, where the naiveté or idealism in Maude's and The Aviator's Wife, is just so much richer.

New Year's resolution: finally watch at least one Rohmer film.

I don't think the characters are self-aware in La Collectionneuse at all, I think they're kidding themselves they are, not an uncommon occurrence in a Rohmer film. The fact that they're all horrible makes it hard to care what happens to them though.

Yeah, often in these films characters talk about themselves a lot but are not actually what you would call self-aware

Self-deluding is more like it. The narrator in La Collectionneuse is so smug, pompous and silly you almost feel like cheering when the (slimy repellent) art collector character gives him a verbal kicking.

I definitely saw Autumn and Springtime within the last few years, but for some reason I can't remember a thing about then. And I adore the other two in that series.

saw A Tale of Winter just last night, really loved it! I think it and My Night at Maud's together make a nice pair of christmas films

haven't seen The Green Ray yet, and don't really want to spend $40+ on a dvd

I associate those two as well. His (SPOILER) willingness in Tale of Winter to give his heroine the miracle she wanted is really moving, I think (although unfortunate for her other suitors.)

yes, I was surprised by how much I loved the ending

Finally got the Blu-ray box set. Can’t wait to dig back in and rewatch them all with my wife (who hasn’t seen any). I watched half of Friend of my Friend, which surprisingly didn’t really work for me any more (and really bored my wife). I think I will try the Green Ray next

which ones are in the blu ray set?

all of them!

yeah, it's comprehensive

It's got all the films, all the shorts and the various bits of TV docu stuff he did early on in his career. There's also a whole disc of shorts directed by his stable of (young, female) students (creepy?) from the mid 90's onwards.

cool, will be looking out for that...

is it this one? http://www.potemkine.fr/Potemkine-film/Coffret-eric-rohmer-l-integrale-coffret-eric-rohmer-l-integrale/pa61m3f210.html

that link doesn't work for me devvvine

are you guys talking about the 22 dvd Region B box set?