- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJean-Marie Maurice Schérer
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Admirers have always had difficulty explaining
Éric Rohmer's "Je ne sais quoi." Part of the
challenge stems from the fact that, despite his place in French
Nouvelle Vague (i.e., New Wave), his work is unlike that of his
colleagues. While this may be due to the auteur's unwillingness to
conform, some have argued convincingly that, in truth, he has remained
more faithful to the original ideals of the movement than have his
peers. Additionally, plot is not his foremost concern. It is the
thoughts and emotions of his characters that are essential to Rohmer,
and, just as one's own states of being are hard to define, so is the
internal life of his art. Thus, rather than speaking of it in specific
terms, fans often use such modifiers as "subtle," "witty," "delicious"
and "enigmatic." In an interview with
Dennis Hopper,
Quentin Tarantino echoed what nearly
every aficionado has uttered: "You have to see one of [his movies], and
if you kind of like that one, then you should see his other ones, but
you need to see one to see if you like it."
Detractors have no problem in expressing their displeasure. They use
such phrases as "tedious like a classroom play," "arty and tiresome"
and "donnishly talky." Gene Hackman, as
jaded detective Harry Moseby in
Night Moves (1975), delivered a now
famous line that sums up these feelings: "I saw a Rohmer film once. It
was kind of like watching paint dry." Undeniably, his excruciatingly
slow pace and apathetic, self-absorbed characters are hallmarks, and,
at times, even his greatest supporters have made trenchant remarks in
this regard. Said critic Pauline Kael,
"Seriocomic triviality has become Rohmer's specialty. His sensibility
would be easier to take if he'd stop directing to a metronome." In that
his proponents will quote attacks on him, indeed Rohmer may be alone
among directors. They revel in the fact that "nothing of consequence"
happens in his pictures. They are mesmerized by the dense blocks of
high-brow chatter. They delight in the predictability of his aesthetic.
Above all, however, they are touched by the honesty of a man who,
uncompromisingly, lays bear the human soul and "life as such."
Who is Eric Rohmer? Born Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer on December 1, 1920
in Nancy, a small city in Lorraine, he relocated to Paris and became a
literature teacher and newspaper reporter. In 1946, under the pen name
Gilbert Cordier, he published his only novel, "Elizabeth". Soon after,
his interest began to shift toward criticism, and he began frequenting
Cinémathèque Français (founded by archivist
Henri Langlois) along with soon-to-be New
Wavers Jean-Luc Godard,
Jacques Rivette,
Claude Chabrol and
François Truffaut. It was at this time
that he adopted his pseudonym, an amalgam of the names of
actor/director Erich von Stroheim and
novelist Sax Rohmer (author of the Fu Manchu
series.) His first film,
Journal d'un scélérat (1950),
was shot the same year that he founded "Gazette du Cinema" along with
Godard and Rivette. The next year, Rohmer joined seminal critic
André Bazin at "Cahiers du Cinema", where he
served as editor-in-chief from 1956 to 1963. As Cahiers was an
influential publication, it not only gave him a platform from which to
preach New Wave philosophy, but it enabled him to propose revisionist
ideas on Hollywood. An example of the latter was "Hitchcock, The First
Forty-Four Films", a book on which he collaborated with Chabrol that
spoke of Alfred Hitchcock in
highly favorable terms.
Rohmer's early forays into direction met with limited success. By 1958,
he had completed five shorts, but his sole attempt at feature length, a
version of La Comtesse de Ségur's "Les Petites filles modèles", was
left unfinished. With
Sign of the Lion (1962), he made
his feature debut, although it was a decade before he achieved
recognition. In the interim, he turned out eleven projects, including
three of his "Six contes moraux" (i.e., moral tales), films devoted to
examining the inner states of people in the throes of temptation.
The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963)
and
Suzanne's Career (1963)
are unremarkable black-and-white pictures that best function as
blueprints for his later output. They also mark the beginning of a
business partnership with
Barbet Schroeder, who starred in the
former of the two.
The Collector (1967), his
first major effort in color, has been mistaken for a Lolita movie; on a
deeper plane, it questions the manner in which one collects or rejects
experience. Rohmer's first "hit" was
My Night at Maud's (1969), which
was nominated for two Oscars and won several international awards. It
continues to be his best-known work. In it, on the eve of a proclaiming
his love to Francoise, his future wife, the narrator spends a night
with a pretty divorcée named Maud. Along with a friend, the two have a
discussion on life, religion and Pascal's wager (i.e., the necessity of
risking all on the only bet that can win.) Left alone with the sensual
Maud, the narrator is forced to test his principles. The final parts in
the series,
Claire's Knee (1970) and
Love in the Afternoon (1972)
are mid-life crisis tales that cleverly reiterate the notion of
self-restraint as the path to salvation.
"Comedies et Proverbs," Rohmer's second cycle, deals with deception.
The Aviator's Wife (1981)
is the story a naïve student who suspects his girlfriend of infidelity.
In stalking her ex-lover and ultimately confronting her, we discover
the levels on which he is deceiving himself. Another masterpiece is
Pauline at the Beach (1983), a
seaside film about adolescents' coming-of-age and the childish antics
of their adult chaperones. Of the remaining installments,
The Green Ray (1986) and
Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987) are
the most appealing. The director's last series is known as "Contes des
quatre saisons" (i.e., Tales of the Four Seasons), which too presents
the dysfunctional relationships of eccentrics. In place of the social
games of "Comedies et Proverbs", though, this cycle explores the lives
of the emotionally isolated.
A Tale of Springtime (1990) and
A Tale of Winter (1992) are the more
inventive pieces, the latter revisiting Ma Nuit chez Maud's "wager."
Just as his oeuvre retraces itself thematically, Rohmer populates it
with actors who appear and reappear in unusual ways. The final tale,
Autumn Tale (1998), brings
together his favorite actresses,
Marie Rivière and
Béatrice Romand. Like "hiver," it
hearkens back to a prior project,
A Good Marriage (1982), in
examining Romand's quest to find a husband.
Since 1976, Rohmer has made various non-serial releases.
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)
and
Rendez-vous in Paris (1995),
both composed of vignettes, are tongue-in-cheek morality plays that
merit little attention. The lush costume drama
The Marquise of O (1976),
in contrast, is an excellent study of the absurd formalities of 18th
century aristocracy and was recognized with the Grand Prize of the Jury
at Cannes. His other period pieces, regrettably, have not been as
successful.
Perceval (1978),
while original, is a failed experiment in stagy Arthurian storytelling,
and the beautifully dull
The Lady and the Duke (2001)
is equally unsatisfying for most fans of his oeuvre. Nonetheless, the
director has demonstrated incredible consistency, and that he was able
to deliver a picture of this caliber so late in his career is
astounding. The legacy that this man has bestowed upon us rivals that
of any auteur, with arguably as many as ten tours de force over the
last four decades. Why, then, is he the least honored among the ranks
of the Nouvelle Vague and among all cinematic geniuses?
Stories of Rohmer's idiosyncrasies abound. An ardent environmentalist,
he has never driven a car and refuses to ride in taxis. There is no
telephone in his home. He delayed the production of Ma Nuit chez Maud
for a year, insisting that certain scenes could only be shot on
Christmas night. Once, he requested a musical score that could be
played at levels inaudible to viewers. He refers to himself as
"commercial," yet his movies turn slim profits playing the art house
circuit. Normally, these are kinds of anecdotes that would endear a one
with the cognoscenti. His most revealing quirk, however, is that he
declines interviews and shuns the spotlight. Where Hitchcock, for
instance, was always ready to talk shop, Rohmer has let his films speak
for themselves. He is not worried about WHAT people think of them but
THAT, indeed, they think.
It would be dangerous to supplant the aforementioned "je ne sais quoi"
with words. Without demystifying Rohmer's cinema, still there are broad
qualities to which one may point. First, it is marked by philosophical
and artistic integrity. Long before
Krzysztof Kieslowski, Rohmer came
up with the concept of the film cycle, and this has permitted him to
build on his own work in a unique manner. A devout Catholic, he is
interested in the resisting of temptation, and what does not occur in
his pieces is just as intriguing as what occurs. Apropos to the mention
of his spirituality is his fascination with the interplay between
destiny and free will. Some choice is always central to his stories.
Yet, while his narrative is devoid of conventionally dramatic events,
he shows a fondness for coincidence bordering on the supernatural. In
order to maintain verisimilitude, then, he employs more "long shots"
and a simpler, more natural editing process than his contemporaries. He
makes infrequent use of music and foley, focusing instead on the sounds
of voices. Of these voices, where his narrators are male (and it is
ostensibly their subjective experience to which we are privy), his
women are more intelligent and complex than his men. Finally, albeit
deeply contemplative, Rohmer's work is rarely conclusive. Refreshingly
un-Hollywood, rather than providing an escape from reality, it compels
us to face the world in which we live.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Cohn
- SpouseThérèse Barbet(1957 - January 11, 2010) (his death, 2 children)
- Concentrates on intelligent, articulate protagonists who frequently fail to own up to their desires.
- Avoids extradiegetic music.
- Populates his movies with people in their twenties.
- The settings of his movies are often on pleasant beaches and popular resorts, notably in La Collectionneuse (1967), Pauline at the Beach (1983), The Green Ray (1986) and A Summer's Tale (1996).
- Prefers to use non-professional actors in his films.
- Francois Truffaut in a 1973 interview: "Rohmer is the best French director now. He became famous very late compared to the rest of us, but for 15 years he's been behind us all the time. He's influenced us from behind for a long time.".
- His ten favorite films are True Heart Susie (1919), The General (1926), Sunrise (1927), La Règle du jeu (1939), Ivan the Terrible (1944), Journey to Italy (1954), Red River (1948), Vertigo (1958), Pickpocket (1959) and La Pyramide humaine (1961).
- A former professor of literature.
- His stage name was fashioned together in homage to actor and
director Erich von Stroheim and 19th-century English
novelist Sax Rohmer. - Regarded film as "the last refuge of poetry" and the only contemporary art form from which metaphor can still spring naturally and spontaneously.
- What I would most like to do is to make movies with a completely invisible camera.
- We have to show what lies beyond behavior, while knowing we can't show anything but behavior.
- [on his work] You can say that my work is closer to the novel - to a certain classic style of novel which the cinema is now taking over - than to other forms of entertainment, like the theater.
- [on Emmanuelle Riva's performance in Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)] She isn't a classical heroine, at least not one that a certain classical cinema has habituated us to see, from David Griffith [D.W. Griffith] to Nicholas Ray.
- [on My Night at Maud's (1969)] What retains your interest in this film is the fact that my characters have a discourse to give, while in the majority of films, this is absent. Note that in general, I have always had misgivings about discursive films. But you are often attracted by things which seem the most unattractive and the most perilous to you. My idea was precisely to integrate a discourse into the film and to avoid the film being at the service of the discourse, at the service of the thesis. But throughout history, starting with the Greeks, discourse has been very important in the theatre. The Greek theatre was composed of maxims, of moral reflection, which didn't prevent it from being real theatre.
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