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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Jun 24, 2017 2:07:36 GMT
Has anybody here seen this film? Thoughts? I just watched it for the first time and was engaged by it, but ultimately I can't really say I liked it... and it's only because of how maddening I found the main character to be. I'm not sure if part of it had to with a cultural barrier I couldn't see past, but I found a lot of the film to be not very believable for something that people say is reflective of a realist filmmaker. My fiancee watched it too and disliked it more than I did, saying that it definitely struck her as having been written by a male filmmaker... but one who seems like he didn't actually know very many real women and instead got most of his ideas from cultural stereotypes and romance novels.
It's hard to care about a lead character whose whole idea of love is just the fluffy infatuation of a 14-year-old (these people supposedly met over a summer holiday?) and who doesn't give a damn about anyone else but herself the entire time. With its contrived, Disney-like ending, the whole thing dripped of escapist fantasy. And the fact that it takes place within basically the same month makes it even worse (How did her boyfriends not strangle her for jerking them around with her indecisiveness?). I felt like Loic in particular had no backbone, putting up with the "I don't love you, but still want to be with you" bullshit...I really just felt like yelling at most of these characters the entire time.
The only other Rohmer film I've seen is My Night at Maud's and while I didn't find it nearly as infuriating, I wasn't as engaged with it... mostly because (what seems like) Rohmer's tendency to indulge in extended scenes of characters philosophizing didn't really appeal to me and came off more static and sort of uncinematic.
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Post by urbanpatrician on Jun 24, 2017 2:14:49 GMT
Rohmer is just great. Not his best film by a longshot, but the ending is sweet if wishful. And Charlotte Very makes my lineup in a strong year.
I get your complaints but I don't know how a girl only caring about herself is not indicative of realism. Most girls I knew really only cared about themselves.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 24, 2017 10:50:18 GMT
He just may not be your cup of tea because I'd say those two films are very representative of him. He tends to make films that are sort of a wisp of an idea, that play on words and light and mood and behavior - very elegant and about characters feelings that don't fit into traditional ways to appreciate movies, that's true.
He's sort of like Woody Allen without the laughs in a way, he often makes films about characters going through a change that they themselves aren't aware of. I always like his films but never feel the need to revisit them because he's not really my cup of tea either - they are almost too gentle I guess for me.
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tobias
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Post by tobias on Jun 24, 2017 14:34:33 GMT
Has anybody here seen this film? Thoughts? I just watched it for the first time and was engaged by it, but ultimately I can't really say I liked it... and it's only because of how maddening I found the main character to be. I'm not sure if part of it had to with a cultural barrier I couldn't see past, but I found a lot of the film to be not very believable for something that people say is reflective of a realist filmmaker. My fiancee watched it too and disliked it more than I did, saying that it definitely struck her as having been written by a male filmmaker... but one who seems like he didn't actually know very many real women and instead got most of his ideas from cultural stereotypes and romance novels. It's hard to care about a lead character whose whole idea of love is just the fluffy infatuation of a 14-year-old (these people supposedly met over a summer holiday?) and who doesn't give a damn about anyone else but herself the entire time. With its contrived, Disney-like ending, the whole thing dripped of escapist fantasy. And the fact that it takes place within basically the same month makes it even worse (How did her boyfriends not strangle her for jerking them around with her indecisiveness?). I felt like Loic in particular had no backbone, putting up with the "I don't love you, but still want to be with you" bullshit...I really just felt like yelling at most of these characters the entire time. The only other Rohmer film I've seen is My Night at Maud's and while I didn't find it nearly as infuriating, I wasn't as engaged with it... mostly because (what seems like) Rohmer's tendency to indulge in extended scenes of characters philosophizing didn't really appeal to me and came off more static and sort of uncinematic. All of what you talk about is actually pretty spot on but it's intentional. Where you got it wrong is: Rohmer is not a realist filmmaker. He's somewhere inbetween romanticism and naturalism. When you look at it from an art history persective, Rohmer never went beyond the 19th century (maybe some of his early films could be dubbed realist but even they are already heavily romanticised). Godard, Truffaut and Chabrol could all better be described as realists. A Tale of Winter is very much a riff on Shakespeare's Winter's Tale and it borrows the ending (a sudden miracle which resolves all problems). Like Shakespeare's late romances the film is about vice and viture, faith and redemption. It's very much removed from some idea of a realistic plot and drifts into almost pastoral scenes at times. The film asks us to look at Félicie not trough her character but through her faith. I think what makes this film inaccessible to some people is that it disagrees with modern materialist protestant thinking. Our society is built on the idea that you can earn something by action. Say you act good towards a person and s/he begins to like or even love you. For the film however all real labour is labour of faith. It's the only way you can recieve redemption (and not because you earn it but because you believe in it). Like My Night at Maud's it also draws heavily from Pascal's wager. Effectively both Felicie and Jean-luc take the wager via a jump of faith (believing in their lover). I think this quote sums it up rather nicely: "Many women would rather live with some other man, but he's not real, he's a dream. For me, the dream was reality. An absent reality." It should also be noted that almost all Rohmer films are to an extend comedies. This is no exception and it's a tone you have to like. I would rather recommend something like A Tale of Summer, The Aviator's Wife or Pauline at the Beach. I think they're some of Rohmer's most accesible films. pacinoyes - Imo Rohmer is probably the better comedian between the 2 tbh. |
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oneflyr
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Post by oneflyr on Jun 24, 2017 19:14:03 GMT
It's so good. The magical realism-like approach he takes with this film isn't for everyone, not even die-hard Rohmer fans, but I think it works wonders. Also one of the best movies to watch near Christmas time.
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