I just read this article about Rohmer - mostly convincing people to watch his films. If you could recommend one of his movies for someone unfamiliar with his work, which one?
http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists/forrest/2010/100118.html
MA NUIT CHEZ MAUD
LA BOULANGÈRE DE MONCEAU
Certainly not this one which is full of immature pretentious rubbish.
It's about a horny self absorbed twerp with a beard who lusts after nubile girls desperately because he's going to marry a rather dubious person with whom he has had an on off affair for seven years.
He bores for France on the subject of why he wants to grope or sleep with the girls.
Nothing ever happens as he chickens out which is a good thing as he would probably have been reported to the police and locked up if he had.
Worst of all he is selling his house in Talloires. In 1970!! If he did then he would have spent his life regretting it. It is regarded, as is the whole area around Lac D'Annecy, as the most beautiful in France. Prices are astronomical.
No you need to see "An Autumn tale" which shows how much he had improved in nearly 30 years.Very funny, adroit and tender with a more sensible yet sensitive script. It also has the 16 year old girl in it again, Beatrice Romand...Laura... as, obviously, an older woman.
Definitely a toss up between My Night at Maud's and Chloe(Love) in the Afternoon.
Claire's Knee started out so well, and then they switched the plot from Jerome and Laura to Jerome and Claire and that's when it got boring. The whole arc of Jerome and Laura was fascinating, and I was anxiously awaiting where the story would go.
http://most-underrated-movies.blogspot.com/
It did have some beautiful locations though, and the scenes where he would travel in the boat were very welcome. I could never take the protagonist seriously, he comes off as a bearded swinger, a little creepy, and his conversations with Aurora where they would plot and discuss were quite trying. Forget trying to side with this character, I found him ridiculous and laughed accordingly. This is the only Moral Tale I didn't like.
As for his best film, I will second My Night at Maud's and Chloe In the Afternoon, but I also love La Collectionneuse.
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My favorites:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur7568922/lists
The Green Ray
Maud is his best from what I've seen, but The Green Ray is also worth watching.
[deleted]
Yup, yup, and yup.
Chloe (aka Love in the Afternoon), I think, is the best one I've seen so far, although it must be said that if you're going to make a "moral" point about an affair that doesn't happen, maybe it'd be better to do it before there's been all the physical contact, the kissing, etc. An affair is not just penetration, for God's sake. But at any rate, a worthwhile subject, and an outcome I thought that mattered.
I have watched the whole filmography of Rohmer at least 4 times (and some more than that, of course).. Needless to say, I'm of the opinion that he's one of the greatest French directors, and I see him as at least as important as Bresson, Renoir and Truffaut, and far better than Godard or Chabrol. Even internationally, he ranks among the 25 best film makers ever IMO.
But I digress: I simply wanted to show that I have had the opportunity to give it a thought. So, the 5 best, absolutely must-see of his films are, in no particular order: those are really the ones that someone not yet acquainted with this director should watch first to get a feeling of the best Rohmer has to offer.
- Ma nuit chez Maud
- Les nuits de la pleine lune
- Le rayon vert
- Conte d'été
- L'amour l'après-midi
But quality does not stop here. There are also those that I rank almost as high as these 5 ones, and I would recommend them with the highest praise if you like those above. These other gems are:
- Conte d'hiver
- Pauline à la plage
- La collectionneuse
- L'ami de mon amie
- Conte d'automne
- La romance d'Astrée et de Céladon (his swan's song)
- Le genou de Claire
The two 'historic' (not contemporary) movies that he realized, "Perceval" and "La marquise d'O" are not suited to everybody's taste, and may be the most divisive of his films. But personally, I love them dearly and think they are true works of geniys for many readons.
I won't go through all the others, but I'll say that there is no movie that I would consider as a failure or none that I wouldn't want to watch again. So one can safely go abd watch all his other films if those above have had their magical effect on you. However, the ones that I would consider as his least interesting - relatively speaking- are the first two of the Contes moraux (La boulangère de Monceau and La carrière de Suzanne") as well as Le bon mariage and L'anglaise et le duc.
I would characterize Rohmer as having been one of the most consistent film directors in history. Many have made better films han the best Rohmer. In fact I would go as far as saying that none of his movie ranks as a "masterpiece". But very few have made as many "near masterpieces" as him, and this ends up with making of his filmography one of the most consistent and most artistically successful in the history of cinema.
- But you can't have her again as costume designer, Mr. Hitchcock!
- Really, Peggy? Give me Head!
Out of the 3 I´ve seen, the 1986 La Rayon Vert was the most tolerable one.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
My Night At Maud's, & The Bakery Girl Of Monceau ('short' 23 min.) were amazing pieces of film. La Collectionneuse and Claire's Knee truly were pretentious drivel. The fact that Jerome looked well into his 40's with graying beard and Laura looked like a 13~14 year old raised the 'creepy factor' to a level that I found a bit distasteful.
shareI think I would call a tie between this and My Night with Maud.
Not this one. So far, this might be at the head of the list for the anti-recommended, IMHO.
shareAm also a real big admirer of Eric, between him and Truffaut for my favorite French Director
My personal favorite is La romance d'Astrée et de Céladon (his swan's song)
One of my all time films