Educational Media Reviews Online

French director Eric Rohmer has been making films for over fifty years. Born Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer in 1920, he was a founder of Cahiers du Cinema, the influential film journal that introduced French New Wave directors/auteurs such as himself and FrancoisTruffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, et al., to the movie-viewing public. Rohmer is an important filmmaker, not only because of the importance in film history of his New Wave/Cahiers du Cinema connections but because he has never compromised his unique filmmaking principles. The French New Wave directors presented their films in a manner more consciously intellectual than the French cinema had since then seen. These films, which burst upon the scene during the late fifties up to the mid-sixties, were avant-garde, a reaction against costume dramas/period pieces and the typical movies churned out by the popular French film industry. These were independent directors who did not rely on huge budgets or stars to make their individual statements. Rohmer boasts that he makes his films cheaply (while pondering guiltily if he is not contributing to chronic French double-digit unemployment) and does not rely upon name actors to sell his movies.

What are Rohmer films about? Almost voyeuristic, they are about people in relationships, contemplating relationships, or trying to get out of relationships. (And talking about it!) Rohmer’s actors are young and attractive, his stories slight; something may happen, but often nothing does. His films explore relationships between small groups of people, issues of the heart, and his camera plays no special effects tricks. He likes deep-focus, static camera work, and use of the zoom lens; sometimes he does location shooting, but most of his tales take place in a single room. His is an elliptical narrative style. People talk. And talk and talk and talk. His characters reveal who they are by what they say, and most times they have a good deal to say. Oftentimes what they say can be overly philosophical and off-putting to the average filmgoer; even devoted Rohmer fans can be turned off by the lack of action.

In this country, Rohmer is probably best-known for only a few of his many films: My Night at Maude’s, Pauline at the Beach, and Claire’s Knee. Recently, in a major departure (though he’d made a couple of period pieces before), he filmed Grace Dalrymple Elliott’s 1858 journal/memoir of the French Revolution, under the title of L’Anglaise et le Duc (The Lady and the Duke - something subtle was lost in this translation - the fact that the lady was an Englishwoman, l’anglaise, who survived the Reign of Terror was important), and it was a minor critical hit acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival. Unable to dovetail his way of making films on the cheap with the need for elaborate sets and hundreds of extras, he cleverly utilized painted backdrops that were surprisingly effective. Always one to go against the grain, this modest movie was sumptuous to look at despite his adherence to a no-frills film making philosophy.

Aimed primarily at cineastes and film students, what is wonderful about this long interview is that one gets an excellent insight into Rohmer the man and Rohmer the auteur. He is fastidious, perhaps to a fault. The many little carefully arranged notebooks in his bookcase carry meticulous details of his film making and ideas. (Rohmer writes his own scripts and has also published at least one novel and a collection of short stories based on his films.) He is constantly rising up from his chair to consult something or another, some small point (to us) that he finds important. (One such incident involves the color of the lining of an actress’s raincoat.) He documents everything; his is clearly an obsessive, focused personality. The paying attention to detail shows. There are never wasted moments in a Rohmer film. Even the endless philosophizing has a point. Sitting in his office, pulling out notebooks, inserting tapes into his VCR, taking out a duffle bag full of very basic film making equipment (all in its own unpretentious logo-bearing carrier/shopping bag), this is a unique look at a director who makes his own films his own way, without compromise, with pared-down crews. Rohmer rarely gives interviews, so, although this set of videos, too, can be talky in the extreme, they are a treat for anyone interested in New Wave cinema in general and Eric Rohmer’s work in particular. The clips from his films are minor; those wanting more will have to rent the particular titles It was filmed in 1994, so the discussion of various films ends there, but there is so much written about Rohmer in film journals and books that the viewer’s interest, if piqued, can be supplemented. In-depth criticism can be found on Web sites such as Roger Ebert’s and other film critics, as well as fan sites with listings of his films and criticism of same.

Highly recommended for university film collections, especially those where there is a film program, and for public libraries where there is an interest in foreign films. The general viewer will not get much out of this talky two hours.