The 10 best Eric Rohmer films

The 10 best Eric Rohmer films

Despite the popularity of the French New Wave, a pioneering era of innovative filmmaking, there is one name that often gets brushed over in favour of the likes of Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. Eric Rohmer was a reserved yet dedicated filmmaker who remained one of the only directors from the New Wave period to continue his output just as strongly in the decades after the era’s decline.

Rohmer began his film career as a journalist and editor for the iconic French film journal Cahiers du cinema. In the early 1950s, Rohmer, who was distinctively older than his New Wave contemporaries (born in 1920), began making short films, often collaborating with Godard. However, his feature-length debut was not released until 1959, titled The Sign of Leo.

The filmmaker didn’t come into his own until his series, ‘Six Moral Tales’, began in 1962. Each film followed the same basic premise – “an initial romantic commitment is complicated by the arrival of a second woman or temptress.” Despite each film in the series following a similar narrative trajectory, they avoid succumbing to repetitiveness.

Rohmer focuses heavily on the art of conversation – his characters are smart, well-spoken, and often too intelligent for their own good. As the years progressed, the filmmaker shifted from centring on men within his films to prioritising female protagonists. The Comedies and Proverbs series of the 1980s demonstrates this best, with some of Rohmer’s most emotionally delicate and complex films emerging from this period.

Even if you haven’t seen a Rohmer film, you may have seen a piece of cinema inspired by his work. From the Before trilogy to Call Me By Your Name to the films of Mia Hansen-Love, Rohmer’s legacy lives on due to its inherent timelessness. This is because his films are concerned with one main theme – human connection.

The auteur died in 2010, a few months short of his 90th birthday, leaving behind a catalogue of films spanning the 1950s all the way to 2007.

The 10 best Eric Rohmer films:

10. The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1962)

Rohmer’s black and white short film The Bakery Girl of Monceau kicked off the director’s Six Moral Tales series in 1962. We follow the unnamed narrator around Paris as he falls in love with a woman he frequently sees in the street. After finally plucking up the courage to speak to her, she disappears, leading the young student to search for her. During his mission, he stops by the same bakery each day and begins to flirt with the girl behind the counter.

Rohmer’s lens ridicules the desperate and selfish nature of the self-righteous protagonist, who toys with the bakery girl, assuming that she couldn’t possibly resist his charms. The stunning shots of Paris amongst its bustling inhabitants and the man’s laughable sanctimonious narration make for an enjoyable short.

9. Claire’s Knee (1970)

Acting as the fifth instalment in the Six Moral Tales series, Claire’s Knee is one of Rohmer’s most visually stunning films. Set against the backdrop of Lake Annecy, dandyish Jerome finds himself faced with an intense desire to touch the knee of Claire, an 18-year-old girl who couldn’t care less about him. The film explores the ageing man’s preoccupation with youth and the way this manifests in his strange, obsessive behaviour.

Rohmer knows how to capture his men at their most insecure and his women at their most intelligent, and the teenage girls in Claire’s Knee possess the simultaneous morality, playfulness and maturity that Jerome could only dream of having. With a breathtakingly bright colour palette of natural greens and blues, watching Claire’s Knee will make you desperate for a French summer holiday.

8. My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (1987)

Rohmer’s Comedies and Proverbs series gave women a central role, and My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend is no exception. The film explores the friendship between Blanche and Lea and the intermingling of relationships as they become involved with each other’s boyfriends. The filmmaker’s observation of French young professionals is set against a backdrop of the contemporary Belvédère Saint-Christophe neighbourhood of Cergy-Pontoise, and highlights the arbitrary nature of life through a series of chance meetings.

Rohmer continues to use colour as a means of symbolism, heavily relying upon greens and blues. Despite standing as the last instalment of the series, Rohmer described My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend as an “inaugural film”. Each actor brings a unique personality to their character, and in typical Rohmer fashion, the film’s “perspective on its characters is both ironic and sympathetic.”

7. My Night at Maud’s (1969)

Starring the late Jean-Louis Trintignant as Jean-Louis, a serious and religious engineer, My Night at Maud’s led Rohmer to gain international recognition, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay. The film’s main theme, which sees Jean-Louis spend the night with the intelligent and beautiful Maud, is the discussion of religion and how it functions in society, continuously referring back to the ideas of Pascal.

The film examines the “complex interactions between a hypocritical Catholic man, a mature free-spirited liberal divorced woman, a committed Communist university professor and a timid guilt-racked young Catholic woman who has had an affair with a married man.” Just like any other Rohmer film, speech is the main force of the movie. However, My Night at Maud’s is visually rather different – instead using black and white film stock at a time when his previous works had been in colour, as well as setting the events during a snowy winter instead of summer.

6. Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)

Released amidst the Comedies and Proverbs, although not an official instalment, Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle is one of Rohmer’s most progressive films. Containing an almost entirely female cast, aside from the few male characters that antagonise the protagonists, the film revels in the beauty of female friendship. We follow the naïve and child-like moralistic country girl Reinette and her new friend Mirabelle, the relaxed Parisian. Although the girls are strikingly different, they bond and move into a city apartment together.

A series of vignettes sees the girls discuss philosophy, nature, morals, and art, whilst male love interests are not focused upon at all – something slightly out of the ordinary for a Rohmer film. Four Adventures stands out in Rohmer’s filmography for its feminine outlook, largely due to the director allowing his actors to improvise most of their conversations.

5. Pauline at the Beach (1983)

Pauline at the Beach is perhaps one of Rohmer’s most accessible films, functioning as a romantic comedy full of wit and tenderness. We follow Pauline, a 14-year-old girl who is holidaying with her older cousin, Marion. The pair encounter Pierre, an old lover of Marion’s on the beach, as well as an overly-charming stranger, Henri, and a teenage boy, Sylvain. Soon, the group become entangled with each other, causing Pauline to experience her first real heartbreak.

‘Action’ is not a word typically associated with the works of Rohmer; however, Pauline at the Beach provides viewers with as much action as his filmography can offer. Misinterpreted events, cunning characters, and the heat of the Normandy beach propel the film forward. A time capsule of 1980s France, this is possibly the best starting point for any Rohmer beginners.

4. The Aviator’s Wife (1981)

The first film of the Comedies and Proverbs, The Aviator’s Wife, remains one of the strongest instalments in the series, combining light-hearted Hitchcockian suspense with great emotional depth and a standout performance by Rohmer-favourite Marie Riviere. Rohmer takes us on a journey of amateur espionage, clearly inspired by Vertigo, as Philippe Marlaud’s Francois (who tragically passed away aged just 22 a year later) becomes obsessed with the idea that his lover Anne is being unfaithful.

After Francois meets a 15-year-old girl in the park, the pair join forces to figure out the mystery together, following the suspected man and the unknown woman accompanying him. The film culminates in a prolonged conversational sequence in Anne’s apartment in which she expresses her feelings in an incredibly emotional performance. Natural and relatable, Rohmer confronts viewers with the hardships of being in love, especially when the other person does not love you the same.

3. La Collectionneuse (1967)

Marking Rohmer’s first foray into colour film, the filmmaker utilises the benefits of colour to create a visual feast in La Collectionneuse, focusing on the gorgeous natural landscapes of St. Tropez that play host to the immature ramblings and games of two men, Adrien and Daniel. The pair of self-righteous men – reminiscent of the protagonist of The Bakery Girl of Monceau – becomes jealous and agitated by the presence of a teenage girl, Haydee, at their holiday house.

Rohmer’s camera casts a laughing gaze at the male protagonists, who find the concept of a sexually confident girl – who is simultaneously not interested in sleeping with them – preposterous. Haydee remains one of Rohmer’s coolest characters, defiant when she needs to be, both relaxed and headstrong. Here, we see a lot of Rohmer’s feminist sensibilities come into play, although it would not be until the late 1980s that these themes fully came to fruition.

2. Love in the Afternoon (1972)

Set in a post-1968 France, protagonist Frederic is caught between the traditionalism he has been raised with, and the blossoming liberalism of his surroundings. Love in the Afternoon is a sophisticated look at a man tempted by infidelity, yet also stresses the love he feels for his wife. Featuring French icon Zouzou as the object of his desire, the film frames her as a free-spirited yet determined individual who is memorable for both her charming persona and incredible wardrobe of outfits.

Love in the Afternoon is washed in tones of blue, which gives the film an air of melancholy, yet it is not a bleak series of events – Rohmer’s masterpiece has its fair share of comedic moments. Yet it is also one of the director’s most erotic works – considering he is not one to frequently show explicit sex scenes or nudity. Its eroticism lies in its tension-building and subtlety, which gives the film a palpable atmosphere.

1. The Green Ray (1986)

Shot on gorgeous 16mm, The Green Ray is one of cinema’s most underrated explorations of loneliness and drifting. We follow Delphine (Marie Riviere’s greatest performance) as she restlessly attempts to enjoy her holiday after her relationship breakdown. Floating between friends and strangers, Delphine cannot find real happiness until she immerses herself in the natural world, coming to terms with her emotions amongst the beaches of Biarritz and her walks in the Alps.

The Green Ray is a meditative, slow film, yet it never drags. The naturalistic dialogue was largely improvised by the cast, of whom were largely non-actors, despite Riviere and the women who play her friends. Moreover, the film was made with a small all-female (besides Rohmer, of course) crew of fewer than ten people, which gives it a highly personal feel. The Green Ray is a masterwork that highlights nature’s beauty, experiencing deep conversation, and embracing your emotions.

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