A Good Marriage (1982) User Reviews

An acute observation of growing pains

[piverba · 8/10 · 23 February 2010]

I like Rohmer realistic films, without background music, without closeups. A young 23 years old girl, still quite narcissistic, suddenly decides to reshape her life, specifically, to get married. The idea overwhelms her so completely that she's no longer interested in selecting someone she loves, rather impatiently first available candidate. She believes that the power of her charms (looks and personality), her resolve, will win over anyone. She's being supported by her girl-friend and somewhat skeptical but loving mother. Her plans are frustrated despite of her extraordinary efforts. The man is simply not interested.

There are many lessons in this example. Personality of the main character is very well developed, palpable, vital. I feel I knew someone like that. None of the characters are idealized, they all are very real. We see a slice of life, specifically French life, with its values, culture, attitudes.

Rohmer, first and most importantly, a teacher, helps us to see something important in human relationships, something very subtle.

Rohmer died this year at the age of 89. He lived longer than any of the French New Wave directors, a movement he belonged to. He believed that his films are closer to a kind of novel rather than to a theater. In my opinion, his usage of cinematographic tools was too subdued, timid, as if he was not quite sure what to do with them - and this is reflected in my rating. But whatever tools he did used, he did it well. His uniqueness and importance is beyond any doubt.

A fine example of an Eric Rohmer movie

[Andy-296 · 8/10 · 27 January 2012]

I have seen most of Eric Rohmer's films, but it took me a while to see this elegant movie from 1982, perhaps because it has the critical reputation of being one of his weaker efforts. Sabine (Rohmer regular Beatrice Romand, in a fine performance that makes us empathize with an immature and not very sympathetic character) is a young woman, tired of her relationship with a married man. She breaks up with him and decides it's time to marry. Not to anyone in particular, she just thinks its time to find someone that is good enough and settle with him and marry. In one party, she meets Edmond, a thirty-something lawyer (Andre Dussolier, a character actor from many French movies), a serious and handsome man who is a cousin to her best friend. She approaches him, he is polite to her but seems uninterested in her advances. But she interprets this as him playing hard to get, so in the following days she would step up her advances, to the point where she starts acting in an increasingly erratic manner. Not much more than this happens in the film, until towards the end we learn of the result of her pursuit of Edmond.

What some reviewers objected to in this film was that her behavior was unrealistic, but I don't feel that way (I certainly have known women of this type, though of course movies tend to exaggerate behaviors). "No man can resist me", Sabine boasts when Edmond politely rejects her advances. She has the arrogance some beautiful women have when they are young (since beauty fades and tends to do it faster than expected, women like this are in for some reality check when they age).

So, summing up, while this might not be among Rohmer's very best, it is certainly well done, and above his average.

a comical study of characters

[exfraulein · 8/10 · 12 April 2010]

Beatrice Romand is a perfect cast for the hot-headed, impetuous, self-confident and immature young girl in the leading role, while Andre Dussollier plays the role of a quintessential bourgeois Frenchman, charming, courteous, discreet, and tactful. His tact has reached the point of being hypocritical which makes the audience exasperate for the young girl, who has been kept on tenterhooks for too long and would not take no for an answer. Her insistent and blind chase of a man who is obviously not interested in her is only made worse by the reticence of the object of her pursuit. Rohmer's films are usually wordy sometimes tedious, they suit only certain type of audience. This one is definitely not tedious. An interesting and comical study of manners and mentalities in different classes of French society of the late 20th century.

Quintessentially Rohmerian exploration of manners

[robin_go · 7/10 · 2 August 2018]

Rohmer likes his morals and the moral for me here is how moving from one stage in life to another can't be forced. We can't decide to be in a different 'place' in life on a whim, without doing the maturing first. There's no short-cut. The cringeworthy party scene is perhaps the telling scene. Not just because of Sabine's inability to crawl out from childish ways, but equally Edmond's inability to cast his mind back to a time when he was giddy and foolish and work didn't matter. The supporting cast - friend Claude, Mother and the antiques dealer all have wisdom that comes through experience, but they know better than to waste too much breath with logic that headstrong Sabine is not ready for. A rites of passage, "find-out-the-hard-way" movie that's not as slight as first glances might suggest.

carefully shaped discourse on life, love, penguins, et cetera

[mattiverson · 23 December 2003]

eric rohmer's films are so clearly his. The slow but deliberate pacing and crisp, to-the-point dialogue are two hallmarks of his style for me, and this film is an excellent example of those two qualities.

As with the other rohmer films I have seen, the characters are less individual, specific personalities than they are vessels for a type of person or for one side of an argument. Here we have the two female leads almost skipping exposition entirely, and going straight into philosophical discussions of love and marriage. What I like about monsieur rohmer is that he manages to do this without taking away all our empathy for his characters. He always shows us how the character's hands are played out, so we can see what the result of their actions were, and think about what we would have done, or will do in our lives. tres bien, monsieur rohmer; j'adore vos travails.

A very good Rohmer film

[adrean-819-339098 · 7/10 · 15 August 2010]

I'm a fan of the hushed qualities which are Rohmer's style. I admire the seamless flow between scenes in this film, between Paris, Le mans, the atelier, the train and her mothers house. Noteworthy is the almost complete lack of music as with many of his films, however there is a poignant somewhat outdated 80's electronic tune that runs in the beginning, the credits and at the party.

I found myself a little less hooked emotionally with this film then with 'Le Rayon Vert', 'Pauline a la Plage, and 'L'ami de Mon Amie'. When I watched those films I was really pulled at the heart strings by the plight of some of the characters.

What was different with this film? Well on the contrary to what others have wrote here I didn't find the leading actress Beatrice Romand to be nearly as compelling as Rohmer's other leads. I think she took the idea of a head strong young woman a little too far, ie; marching around like a bulldog for half the film, seemingly bursting in and out where ever she went. I think she could have played the head-strong role with a bit more subtlety. However at the scene of her party and in one of the final scenes in an office she played the role divinely. Particularly at the party there is a sense of tension which is unexplainable which she radiates.

As a big fan of Rohmer and comparing with his other works I give this film a 7. This film for someone who has not experienced a Rohmer film will be like an almigthy gob smack. You will see with the simplest elements and without manipulation he is able to create a sense of compassion for the characters and tension with a slight pacing that resembles real life.

Wonderful observation of a young woman's incessant and misjudged hunt for an epiphany amidst the world of marriage and sexual relations.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 14 May 2010]

A Good Marriage begins and ends on a train; it may not be the same train but I'm relatively sure young French girl Sabine (Romand) the film revolves around eyes up the same male individual she saw at the very beginning, at which point an unnatural sense of beaming sexuality was unlocked and she would rush home to call up another man she knows and also acts as a mistress for. In starting and ending the film in the same manner, French director Eric Rohmer not only concludes on a note that is ambiguous in its overall tone as to whether this is a happy conclusion to events or not, but brings the arc of Sabine's character plus her recent exploits around to a natural enough conclusion, a sense that she's finished right where she started, enabling us to conclude that Sabine has had a crack at operating outside of her usual world or 'bubble'; advice along the way from friends and family alike, and now we see a natural flow once again take its course.

We do indeed begin with a lustful glare on a young man of about Sabine's age, something that sparks off a yearning for male contact that evening and it is the married, although with recent problems, Simon (Atkine) that is to fill that role. Sabine is gets sexually excited quite easily; she identifies herself as a bit of a seductress whilst talking to a girlfriend named Clarisse (Dombasle) later on and they banter in a cheery manner about Sabine being attractive and powerful enough to be able to have a man "eat out of one of her hands". The good hour and a half we spend with Sabine roaming both rural France by car and a more urban, cobbled France by way of the local streets on foot allows us to peek inside of her life at a time when she bravely exclaims she will take on a more serious attitude to life and love; proudly boasting she will find a man she won't want to render a mere fling-on-the-side for instances in which gross levels of hormonal discharge occur. She says she will come to marry this man.

The tone of the film is relatively light hearted and upbeat, building to a crescendo of emotion and frustration as realisations of where the lead is on the overall plateau of relationships and partners which feels ever more jarring because of the prior tone. This is a pure and unflinching character study of an individual confused in how the human species works above a certain level of thinking and in attitudes to both relationships and partners: on the side; marital or otherwise. In boasting she will shortly find a man; marry and settle down, Clarisse informs her she can probably get any one she wants such is her charisma and ability with men. There's a pinch of salt in the statement, but behind that a feeling that it might very well be true thus complimenting Sabine's ignorant belief that marriage and finding suitors for marriage is as easy as what it is she's done in regards to men her whole life. The potential suitor is Edmond (Dussollier); a single, slightly older lawyer working in a relatively high-rise building in a bustling part of town, someone she meets through a relative at a party, fool-heartedly and somewhat tragically jumping in with the first choice that has come along.

Needless to say, their relationship is interesting enough and Sabine's gradual realisation of what she is with what mentality she seems to belong to is fascinating enough to act as the entire core of the film. A brilliant scene at a restaurant, Sabine and Edmond inhabiting window seats out of which a flowing river is visible, sees the camera focus on Edmond for the duration of the time it takes Sabine to document exactly what it is she wants out of life and where she sees aspires to be. Edmond's face fills the screen, his expression one of both realisation and transition as Sabine speaks and we sort-of-but-not-quite see exactly how he feels with all the emphasis on him; his expressions slightly downcast and dishevelled as he absorbs what's being said, putting across a relatively doomed sense about things. The tragic ingredients on Sabine's behalf is a slow burning, very gradual process of trying to prove herself to peers and Edmond himself by straining to present herself as deadly serious in her goal to succeed at finding a suitor and marrying, thus expelling the man-eater tag she and Clarisse both deem she possesses. In doing so, leaving one's job and loosing interest in her arts course so as to pursue a new ideology others deem age-old in settling down to adopt the role of a bog-standard house wife acts as a tragic undercurrent to proceedings, paining the audience to find some kind of middle ground.

As the film progresses, and it becomes less and less obvious the relationship might work, Sabine's epiphany in the realisation who she is and the nature of her attitudes towards love; sexual relations and the opposite sex comes close to breaking point at her birthday. Whilst those around her enjoy the occasion, Sabine can only sulk that her latest (although this time supposedly well intended) target in Edmond hasn't shown up; their eventual coming together interrupted at a vital moment when Edmond, embodying professionalism in his dress sense throughout the piece, and Sabine, the more carefree youth who's drastically trying to spark a new nature of relationship, clash in her bedroom at a vital time in both their time together. Here, the case study between young; slightly idiotic; easily seduced; marital problem infused men and a male of a more mature nature is about to become clear save for the interruption. Rohmer has taken us to somewhat of a breaking point before dramatically rounding things off shortly thereafter: A Good Marriage is a good watch.

Charming tale of a woman chasing a man

[samyanari · 8/10 · 25 July 2002]

Witty/romantic comedy. Headstrong/out-spoken Sabine (Béatrice Romand), working on her thesis in Art History, has tired of affairs with married men, such as Simon (Féodor Atkine). Playing Cupid, her confidante Clarisse (Arielle Dombasle) introduces her lawyer cousin Edmond (André Dusollier) to Sabine. Encouraged by Clarisse, Sabine impetuously decides that she will marry Edmond and tells her mother (Thamila Megrah) and sister Lise (Sophie Renoir). When confronted by Sabine, Edmond resorts to an astonishing/glib double-talk to explain why he is not ready for matrimony.

Béatrice Romand was the delightful/ talkative teen ager in ‘71 Claire's Knee, and commitment-shy widow in '98 Autumn Tale; Dusollier, in the whimsical '75 And Now My Love. Arielle Dombasle has appeared in many films, starting as a seductive beauty. Féodor Atkine played a somewhat slimy character in '83 Pauline on the Beach.

Not quite my favourite 'Rohmer', but it's definitely a worthwhile movie nonetheless...

[supadude2004 · 7/10 · 15 April 2008]

Frankly, this is not my favourite 'Rohmer': I far preferred Conte D'Hiver, Le Genou De Claire, & Signe Du Lion. Having said that, I still warmed to this quirky but engaging story about an independent, self absorbed, head strong, young lady of 25 who one day decides: enough's enough, it's time for marriage! And then...

Overall, it's a very watchable tale, and well worth your while if watching what happens to someone who suddenly decides it's time to settle down with the right one (i.e., he who she's yet to meet!) appeals to you. Rohmer, directs with mastery. And in saying so, I fear that in the hands of many an other director, I'd have not found the tale so satisfying to watch. Kudos too, must go to Ms Romand (from Rohmer's 'Claire's Knee' & 'Autumn Tale') for her playing the lead character so well. The casting & acting of the other actors was very good too.

Overall, I recommended Le Beau Marriage, with the caveat that it's definitely not a movie that everyone would like. I strongly recommend you read the promo blurb first, and ask yourself if such a story might appeal to you? And if so, by all means you should definitely watch it. For me... I enjoyed it enough to say it's worth - 7/10

Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie...

[fanni · 8/10 · 6 September 2001]

A simple story placed in a windy village in the outskirts of Paris: a story which could have happened nowadays. A 25 years old girl not nice, but very strong minded who decides to get married to matter to whom. You perceive different worlds and environments: high and low bourgeoisie, the capital and the suburbs and in the middle a person with his problems, ideas, opinion, sentiments. It is a sweet and clever film and Rohmer is a master in describing his characters: you feel all the French great cultural tradition behind him.

"Hypocrite"

[cronostitan · 7/10 · 6 December 2014]

A young ambitious student wishes to succeed and to make a beautiful marriage... The protagonist knows well that it will be hard but has the reasons for: on the other hand she is smart enough to know that the social background matters a lot - as she said to her friend Clarisse, we cannot have a free mind and a free body everywhere, it is especially the money who allows us to sugar the pill! And there is that she suddenly chooses a poor guy who is a lawyer in real life, somebody who's not a "pitiful" according to herself.

The number one's principle of the movie being to demonstrate it then regrettably, its opposite. Because Sabine also makes a mistake, but I would not tell you why or what in order to not spoil nothing of this work, which's absolutely one of more successful of Rohmer, this cult director being capable of the worst like the very best as for some of his movies. On the other hand know firstly that rohmerians often denigrates " the beautiful marriage " and it's natural because this full-length film scratches in the place where you must not. Anti- bourgeois, anti-hipster, this movie is to be seen and mainly for its brunette bold heroine not so pointless who also proves to ourselves that being a provincial or living in a big town; it's anyway the same thing for many of us.

The B.O. says moreover dice the beginning by this fast and wriggling electronic track, been born before this illusion of marketing what we name today "french-touch". And if it begins with a light comedy it is to press better on the ridiculous, disgusted of these predicted preset things that we would prefer all to avoid before any of this... especially glaucous physical appearance which seems to be obliged in the love scenes and that this young father with theses swines kids (who phones every time at every hour of day. And every hour of the night too) personalizes it par excellence (as we say in french).

So, the whole is almost a masterpiece, in spite of its so long typical conversations of the author. And I know well what I'm talking about - comme on dit en France.

The treacherous nature of idealism

[redbow68 · 10/10 · 14 July 2012]

Le beau marriage stars Beatrice Romand as Sabine the art history student and Andre Dussollier as Edmond the Parisian lawyer. This is one of Eric Rohmers comédies et proverbes, and like many of Rohmers masterpieces it floats on a stable ocean of entertaining narrative, but the disguised messages are found by plunging into the depths beneath. Many critiques have only given this gem a glancing opinion and stop at the story line, and though necessary, my postulation on the messages will remain my focus. The bare bones of the story regard Sabine who travels from Le Mans to Paris where she studies art history. She has regular liaisons with her lover Simon, the married painter, who would rather talk to his son on the telephone than continue to make love to Sabine. She breaks the liaison and back in Le Mans she declares to her friend Clarisse that she is going to be married, although she hasn't found a man to marry as yet. At a party Sabine is introduced by Clarisse to her cousin Edmond, a Parisian lawyer. It is in this first meeting that we see Beatrice Romands instinctual ability to portray instant attraction, exactly what we see in Romands Magali when she meets Gerald played by Alain Libolt in Conte d'automne . Sabine begins to pursue him whilst always trying to remain distant. This game is played to elicit his interest, but Edmond is always busy and hesitant. This drives Sabine's frustration and obsession as she decides that he is in love with her, and declares to all but Edmond that they are to be married. However Edmond never calls and ignores her constant massages until Sabine leaves herself no choice other than to confront him in his office in Paris, where he explains that he doesn't love her and leaves her no hope. Now to go deeper. The poignant force that chases Sabine into the arms of reality is a self inflicted humiliation, but it is also a study on the fragility of youthful perception and the power of our subconscious that remain the truthful messages of Le beau marriage. It is Sabines youthful belief that she can have anything she wants in the world just by deciding to want it that ultimately clashes with reality. As Sabine burst her naive statements upon the world she seems impetuous, obnoxious and spoilt, but isn't that the nature of youth? She is youth personified because that is youth's nature, and we watch her crash into the wall of maturity fighting all the way. She has lived a life of safety hidden amongst antiques, and she has been a mistress to an unchanging man who will always put his children first. She grasps to the comforting belief that she is an artist at heart and therefore dismisses the challenges of earning money, a career or even independence. But like the majority of us all , she has felt the shadow of reality at her back as the sunshine of her youthful oblivion begins to disappear over the horizon. Her solution to avoid reality is simple, to get married. But not just to find a man, she needs a man to fall deeply in love with her, to dote on her and provide a life where she can rest safely under a new and un-setting sun that shines on her denial . So convinced is she that her plan will fall into place, that she never realises that her advances are constantly met with dispassionate rejection. As she continues to make excuses for his behaviour and denies any possibility that her plan might not work, she in effect creates her own descending pathway towards reality. In fact she began to create this path by having an affair with Simon to begin with, and the force and conduct of her subconscious mind is manifest in her embrace of that humiliation. However, it is insufficiently toxic to alter the chemistry of her consciousness, and she impetuously dodges the ultimate ignominy of the affair to retreat deeper into her delusions. She finds herself embracing the impossible ideal of a perfect marriage without the need for love, but her subconscious hasn't given up and pushes her until all hope is exhausted, and she leaves herself no other option other than to immerse herself fully in humiliation. This moment occurs beautifully in Edmonds bureau as Beatrice delivers a stunning performance for which she deserved all the awards she received for Le Beau marriage. Beneath the stubborn and hopeful conviction of her consciousness, the inevitable rejection and humiliation are the catalysts she needs to step into maturity. In this scene we see the struggle, the sadness and the pain. We empathise with every emotion reflected in Sabine's eyes because we have all been through this moment, the moment where stubborn youth confronts the constraints of reality, the moment were that spark of invincibility is snuffed out and we realise that we are fragile and less significant than we thought. When we see her soft smile on the train back to Le Mans, it isn't with the dressings of protection we see her later adorned, but the transcendental nature of the human spirit, the reason that love and pain are so intertwined, the reason for the necessary changes in our lives and our necessary conformity to reality. It is this that she finally comprehends on her journey home, and when she later sits opposite another young man on the train, she receives the passing glance of attraction with acquiescent appreciation of the treacherous nature of idealism. Rohmer does for film what Tennessee Williams does for literature, he elegantly seduces us with unpredictable characters, then teases us with a depth of meaning. The Le beau marriage is no exception.

A nice little masterpiece of cringe comedy. *does Zissou dance to the soundtrack

[mehobulls · 7/10 · 11 October 2020]

The contradiction between traditional and modern, intellectual and emotional. Everyone governs themselves with philosophy but reveals themselves more deeply in the minute details of expression. A momentary pause or a botched smile illustrates volumes of character.

Eric Rohmer's Comedies et Proverbes series:Part 2.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 5/10 · 29 July 2016]

Finding the performances in the first part (also reviewed) of this loosely connected movie series to be better than what I was expecting from Eric Rohmer, (who was such a hipster that he never owned a phone-bloody hippy!) that I decided to take a look at the second in the series.

View on the film:

Joined by an off-beat score from Ronan Girre & Simon des Innocents,writer/director Éric Rohmer and cinematographer Bernard Lutic tan the title in a golden bloom which casts a romantic Autumn atmosphere over the film. Holding her head high, Béatrice Romand gives a good performance as Sabine,whose art side Romand rolls in, along with all the frustrations just under Sabine's fingers.

Making Sabine an art student,the screenplay by auteur Rohmer laps up all of the golden lights from the middle class elite art world.Whilst his love of the bourgeoisie life fits the arty brush strokes,it leads to Sabine's romance with Edmond to feel incredibly empty,due to Rohmer's fixture on the bourgeoisie leading to a calm mood which stops any sign of passion or intimacy being shown in a marriage that is breaking apart at the seams.

Eric Rohmer is alright.

[frankiehudson · 7/10 · 12 February 2007]

I never really understood the acclaim for Eric Rohmer yet this is a nice little film with some fascinating Loire scenery and townscapes and the beautiful Beatrice Romand. What more can you ask for?

My DVD was free with the Independent newspaper (London), so I can't complain. It even had a little 7 minute interview 'Special Feature' with Eric Rohmer, who explains one or two things (like his admiration for tourist-style films of towns like Le Mans and Ballon).

There are amazing shots of Le Mans and its spectacular cathedral and also its tiny cobbled streets - the typical France that we all know and love. Romand is shown with her friend walking around these historic, somewhat claustrophobic streets, visiting the art gallery where she works and stuff like that.

The contrast between Sabine, in her tinny little vintage Renault car with its cumbersome gear changer, and her latest bloke is amusing, rattling along some very attractive rural French roads.

Very good.

pretty adequate film about a ditzy dame

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 24 September 2005]

This is a novel idea for a movie--a woman who is tired of crappy relationships and so she deliberately sets out to find a man to marry. She is so hot for marriage, that she grabs onto the first apparently eligible bachelor who fits her basic criteria. This is pretty interesting and new, so it kept my attention. However, the movie never really became a comedy or tragedy or stalking film (though it came close) and when it ended, not a whole lot had been accomplished. I just felt rather unsatisfied and wanted to see more attempts by this ditzy lady. By the way, this movie actually reminded me of the Cary Grant/Betsy Drake film EVERY GIRL SHOULD BE MARRIED, though the Grant/Drake film was cuter and a little more contrived. Plus, Cary or Betsy NEVER would have shown their naked butts in a movie!

Beau Belles

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 16 February 2007]

Seems I can't win with Rohmer. Just when I'd concluded he was only good for static, philosophical debate with ciphers in lieu of flash and blood characters he weighs in with this entry which indicates that he HAS been watching to see how the Big Boys do it because this time around he actually takes his camera off the tripod, throws in the odd fluid sequence and even mixes between Master, Long, Mediumn and Close Shots. As if that weren't enough he goes further by using actors that we've actually HEARD of like Andre Dussollier and Arelle Dombasle. On the other hand he's still not paying a great deal of attention to plausibility and allowing coincidence too great a role in the scheme of things. However, on the whole this particular title isn't too hard to take, especially as a freebie with an English newspaper.

Impressions of Le Beau Mariage during the 2021 US insurrection

[cyranomish · 9/10 · 10 January 2021]

How did Sabine come to be so imperious & headstrong? Her younger sister -- still in high school -- seems content with their middle-class home and is making so many friends that Sabine complains that most of the guests at her birthday party are actually her little sister's pals, not Sabine's Sabine's mother, a widow, appears sad but resigned to their situation. And mildly concerned with her daughters' lives, but supportive.

Sabine appears to be part African. I thought of the Algerian situation which pretty much ended France's colonial domination of Algeria in the early 1960s. Sabine mentions that her family "lost everything." I think her father may have been an officer in France's long-standing Algerian Army. I have a theory that Sabine's family suffered a major social set-back when French colonialism ended there, probably when Sabine was still a child. A lot of French/African families were like the American colonial Tories: loyalist outcasts who had to flee for their lives. If so, she may vividly recall more prosperous times and a much richer house staffed with servants in a milder, sunnier climate: like moving from upper class San Diego to lower-middle-class Philadelphia. This come-down might explain why she has been involved in a chaotic love-life with married men (who may or may not resemble her late father, if you want to get Freudian.)

As a former aristocrat, Sabine wants to hoist herself back into her "proper" role as the sheltered wife of a high-earning provider. She MUST do this because it is her proper destiny. Her art history major is the kind of endeavor a doctor's wife or a banker's daughter might select: one can become a volunteer docent and not require a salary. Ever. Sabine has not learned how to be tactful or considerate of others' feelings. Thus, her angry resignation when her boss calls her out for ruining a shop sale. Or her ugly scene with one of the lawyer's clients over a minor issue. Or her demeaning tantrum when the lawyer she covets gently explains that have no future together. She acts like a 16-year-old but is really 25. If you can't conduct yourself well at 25, you'd better be very rich -- or you are in serious trouble.

Stupid delusions!

[aleXandrugota · 8/10 · 7 August 2022]

For me it is Rohmer's most uncomfortable film to watch. Of course, that was his intention, to impose this "story" on us where there is no comfortable moment. Sabine is an absolutely unbearable being. It seems that Beatrice Romand really wants to perpetuate the mean girl from "Clara's Knee" by turning her here into an equally immature young woman who doesn't seem to understand in any way what world she is in. Furthermore, her friend Clarisse (Arielle Dombasle) fuels her foolish delusions by attempting a combination with her cousin. In all these films, Andre Dusollier seems to me to be in the most suitable role. With a smile always forced on his lips, obviously uncomfortable entered into a stupid game from which he doesn't really know how to get out. Another excellent film by the brilliant Rohmer!

Making someone love you is difficult but it's impossible if you're impulsive

[donalupe · 5/10 · 26 January 2022]

Impulsive people, instead of introspection, tend to find their grapes sour. The beauty of this film lies in a way this downside to Sabine's personality is explored - not only from her own perspective but also thru the lens of her close friend and a few other people. Despite her smugness and deserved undesirable end to her pursuit, Rohmer massages us into feeling compassion for his subject.