AUTUMN TALE
(Fr. with English subtitles)
Eric Rohmer's movies are an acquired taste. His films rely on dialogue to carry the action forward, and cinematography to create the atmosphere that dictates the mood of his characters. They can best be described , to borrow a phrase, as 'Cinema for the Ear.' His characters talk about their concerns, beliefs, and desires. Some are shallow, self absorbed, and opinionated. Others are naïve, disarming, and innocent. All are intelligent. The sometimes fragile relationships of family, friends, and lovers are often put to the test by a dilemma that must be resolved. A man has a fetish for the knee of a young girl he doesn't particularly like in "Claire's Knee" (1970), a woman cannot fathom the cause of her pregnancy in 18th Century Italy in "The Marquise of O" (1975), and a woman obsessed with marriage pursues a man with other ideas in "Le Beau Marriage" (1982). Their course of action reflects each person's peculiar needs. They can be ethical or practical, altruistic or selfish. In "Autumn Tale," two women, two generations apart, take it upon themselves - individually - to help their mutual middle aged widowed friend find a man.
THE PLOT: Isabelle (Marie Riviere) needs wine for her daughter's wedding. What better person to buy it from than her lifelong friend, Magali(Beatrice Romand)? She is a vintner. Isabelle visits her. She also wants to know why Magali hasn't responded to her invitation. It's harvest time and Magali must tend to her grapes. She is afraid to let one day go by without her supervision. She also confides her loneliness and the need for companionship since her kids have left the nest. But she has neither the inclination nor the time to seek out a man. The vineyard must come first. Unsolicited, Isabelle sets out to look for a suitor for Magali. Meanwhile, Magali's son's 'girlfriend' - Rosine (Alexia Portal) - who has a great love for Magali, has decided to try and hook her up with her much older ex-lover, Etienne, a pompous philosophy professor. Rosine wants to remain friends. He still wants her. But Rosine is young, arrogant, and headstrong. She insists that Magali is the woman for him and sets out to prove it.
What ensues is a game of impersonation, playful deceit, and a wedding that brings all the principals together in a game of cat and mouse with Magali as the unsuspecting prey. But, not before Rohmer has a chance to voice his own concerns about the human condition through his creations. Like the title, "Autumn Tale" implies, his story focuses on people in the autumn of their lives. Magali is the earth mother rooted to the land. She knows what enriches the soil, as well as her soul. Her attitude can be as thorny as the brambles that run the course of her land, or as flexible as the branches that bend in the wind. Magali wants to reap the harvest of her experience, but life can be as fickle as the weather. She is as guarded in her choice of a male companion as she is about her care for the vineyard. Isabelle is the complete antithesis. She is an incurable romantic whose understanding of human nature comes as much from the classics found on the shelves of her bookstore as her own family life. She concocts a plan to help Magali that is worthy of a romance novel, but without the histrionics. Isabelle screens a series of men, before settling on Gerald (Didier Sandre), a salesman who seems to have the right qualifications - a love of nature, a taste for good wine, and a good disposition. Isabelle wears his patience thin until she feels he's ready to meet his real challenge - Magali. Then of course their is Rosine with her impetuousness nature and her ex, Etienne, who does not deal with aging as gracefully as Isabelle and Magali who, like the grapes in the most obvious metaphor in Rohmer's film, are of a good vintage.
Eric Rohmer may be in the autumn of his own life (he is in his late seventies), but age has not dimmed his imagination. It shimmers with the vibrancy of sunlight in the Rhone Valley. Anyone with a penchant for language, the elliptical plotting of a well crafted novel, and the patience to absorb the depth of "Autumn Tale" will not be disappointed.
VIDEO PIX:
I must confess that I did not take to all of Rohmer's films as much as I did "Autumn Tale." I still find "My Night at Maude's" (1969) too didactic and dry and the leisurely pacing of "La Collectioneusse" (1971) almost put me to sleep. So here are a few of my favorites.
"Summer" (1986): Marie Riviere goes it alone on the Riviera when she's abandoned by a group of friends. Also with Beatrice Romand.
"Pauline at the Beach" (1983): A young girl learns watches her older cousin leave the wreckage of men's hearts and egos in her wake with some hilarious results.
"Le Beau Marriage" (1982): Beatrice Romand arbitrarily determines to marry a man who has other ideas.
"Aviator's Wife" (1981): Can another woman bring happiness to a man involved in an unhappy affair? Better than it sounds. With Beatrice Romand.