ERIC ROHMER, 1920-2010
you may remember this goofy looking picture from the initial "relational holocaust" post that i wrote on the last day of last decade. it is from a film sometimes called "Love in the Afternoon" and sometimes "Chloe in the Afternoon". It is the last film of a six film series called "Six Moral Tales". Except for "Amelie" (2001), these six films were the first i had encountered of French cinema. The director, Eric Rohmer, was my introduction into Nouvelle Vague, and still remains my preferred director of choice from the era.
The "Six Moral Tales" was written as six short stories by Rohmer with the intention of transitioning them into films. he didn't like the bare bones format of "screenplay", so he expanded them into book form (which comes with the criterion box set). he became most well known for his exceptional dialogue and minimalist visual style, as well as superb emotional subjective tension between characters (rarely achieved). The third film of the set ("My Night at Maud's") stands right next to the best of Bergman and Tarkovsky, so far as i have seen. there is no better compliment than that.
"Chloe in the Afternoon", however, is the film where Rohmer finally reveals himself. you see, the previous five films have subjected us to every significant issue of the current post-modern relational holocaust. and it is so devastating, yet appealing, that a well respected mentor and friend of mine was simply unable to push through to the end - understandably. but if he had, he may have found this series of films to have confirmed his own journey.
he would have come to know the man in the screen-shot above, Frederic, as a father and husband. he would know that one of the games that Frederic played with his children was one where he pulled his sweater up around his head, and pretended to be a monster or a dragon, chasing the kids while laughing. but he would also know that the screen shot above is not from that particular scene. the above scene is the one where Frederic finally decides to give into the temptation of a female, Chloe, who has spun a web of lust and manipulation for him. and as he is taking off his sweater, he sees himself in the mirror, and all that is true, and all that is right, and all that is meaningful, and all that should never be sacrificed in the name of freedom, liberation, desire, and boredom!
and so he pulls his sweater back on, and he quietly leaves, and goes home to be with his family. and we are only left with empathy, gratitude, and contentment - that which the relational holocaust has stolen from us.
and that to me, makes Eric Rohmer a prophet! a prophet who told the truth, when it was suggested that there was no truth!
a prophet who died at age 89, today.
"The vibrant final sequence of Love in the Afternoon, capturing the afternoon sunlight that blesses a husband and wife’s fidelity, is one of his most sublime, and cinematic, moments. Study it. This scene is the consistent key to all the Moral Tales. It moves us from Frédéric’s imagination to his conscious choice. Rohmer depicts a tryst beyond the petty intrigues of typical movie lust—as a spiritual/rational phenomenon. It is the summation of the Moral Tales’ purpose."
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