Autumn Tale

It is autumn in the Rhone valley and grapes are being harvested. Magali (Beatrice Romand), the owner of a small vineyard inherited from her parents, lives alone and attends to her vineyard with the same care she gives to her frizzy black hair.

I somehow managed to miss this when it came out, despite being a Rohmer fan since the 70s. It was a heartbreaking disappointment - I was so aware of the acting (ie they were actors, not characters) and the selfconscious and deeply unlikely dialogue and plot contrivances.

When we first meet Isabelle, she is discussing the upcoming wedding of her daughter. She wants to get the wine from her friend Magali, whom her daughter thinks doesn't care for her.

The concluding work of the season cycle is a great example of French romantic comedy, but it does not act cursory. It is even interesting for the main stream movie goer although the movie takes a little time at the beginning to get into the plot.

It's hard for me to see a foreign film, they are only showing in one theater in the Phoenix area. However, as faith would have it, my new school is by the theater in town showing foreign and independent films.

Even as a teenager I recognized that Pauline at the Beach and Claire's Knee were the products of a creepy pedophile - which is why hadn't bothered with Rohmer in umpteen years. But the trailer on Autumn's Tale looked good and since he would be treating late-in-life romance I thought maybe Rohmer had matured to the point of removing his own predilections from his films.

This one filled me with so much joy, a fellow viewer asked me to stay still on my chair. Last time I felt like it, I was watching Rear window.

Having lived for weeks at a time in France, we found this film so enjoyable as a mini-trip back to France. The film captured the French culture and a slice of every day life.

If you're not an Eric Rohmer fan, then it just might be too casually French and talkative. It actually reminded me of Rohmer's 1981 "Le Beau Mariage" (A Good Marriage) which also has Beatrice Romand, and Marie Riviere who was in 1986 " Le Rayon vert" (The Green Ray, aka Summer).