Love in the Afternoon (1972) L'amour l'après-midi (original title)

Director:

Eric Rohmer

Writer:

Eric Rohmer

Release Date:

29 September 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The last of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales. Frederic leads a bourgeois life; he is a partner in a small Paris office and is happily married to Helene...

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Office | Nurse | Fidelity | Boutique

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bernard Verley	...	Frédéric
Zouzou	...	Chloé
Françoise Verley	...	Hélène
Daniel Ceccaldi	...	Gérard
Malvina Penne	...	Fabienne
Elisabeth Ferrier	...	Martine (as Babette Ferrier)
Tina Michelino	...	The Passenger
Jean-Louis Livi	...	The Colleague
Pierre Nunzi	...	The Salesman
Irène Skobline	...	The Saleslady
Frédérique Hender	...	Mme. M.
Claude-Jean Philippe	...	Mr. M.
Silvia Badescu	...	The Female Student
Claude Bertrand	...	The Male Student
Sylvaine Charlet	...	The Landlady
Daniele Malat	...	The Customer
Suze Randall	...	The Au Pair
Françoise Fabian	...	Dream Sequence
Marie-Christine Barrault	...	Dream Sequence
Haydée Politoff	...	Dream Sequence
Aurora Cornu	...	Dream Sequence
Laurence de Monaghan	...	Dream Sequence
Béatrice Romand	...	Dream Sequence

Directed by
Eric Rohmer

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Eric Rohmer

Produced by
Pierre Cottrell	....	producer
Barbet Schroeder	....	producer

Original Music by
Arié Dzierlatka

Cinematography by
Néstor Almendros

Film Editing by
Cécile Decugis

Production Design by
Nicole Rachline

Costume Design by
Daniel Hechter-Vog

Makeup Department
Karl Moisant	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Claude Bertrand	....	assistant director
Claudine Guillemin	....	assistant director
Lorraine Santoni	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Jacques Carrère	....	sound mixer
Michel Laurent	....	assistant sound recordist
Jean-Pierre Ruh	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Fernand Coquet	....	electrician
Bernard Prim	....	still photographer
Jean-Claude Rivière	....	assistant camera
Philippe Rousselot	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Martine Kalfon	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Albert Vasseur	....	machinist

Production Companies

• Les Films du Losange

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Media Home Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS) (Through the Cinematheque Collection for Heron Communications)
• Kinokuniya (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Guerilla Films (UK)

Also Known As:

"L'amour l'après-midi" - France (original title)
"Chloe in the Afternoon" - USA

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Les Films du Losange

Movie Connections:

Remade as I Think I Love My Wife (2007)

CHLOE' IN THE AFTERNOON (Eric Rohmer, 1972) ***

The most popular entries in the late Eric Rohmer's long and distinguished career are, undoubtedly, his "Six Moral Tales" which began in 1963 with the short THE BAKERY GIRL OF MONCEAU and ended with the film under review. For the record, I was genuinely impressed with the centerpiece of the sextet – MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S (1969), which is easily Rohmer's most popular film – and, many years ago, I had also watched the successive chapter LA COLLECTIONNEUSE (shot in 1967 but released in 1971!) but I have only vague recollections of that one and some of the later Rohmers that I have seen since then. But back to CHLOE' or, I should say, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON which is the film's original title (although, obviously enough, it bears no relation whatsoever to Billy Wilder's 1957 tribute to his idol Ernst Lubitsch)! Speaking of idols, the lead actor here, Bernard Verley, portrayed (irony of ironies) Jesus Christ in one of the major works of my own personal cinematic idol, Luis Bunuel's THE MILKY WAY (1969) and, besides, the central situation of the movie is also dealt with in one of my favorite band's loveliest songs, The Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes" (which, likewise, dates from 1969)!! In CHLOE', Verley plays a happily married man (unsurprisingly enough to his own real-life wife Francoise, no less – in her first of just two screen appearances) who spends his daily idle time (train journeys, lunch breaks, etc.) entertaining the notion of betraying his wife with every woman he meets! In fact, much has been made of the fact that CHLOE' includes the only dream sequence (featuring cameos by the likes of Marie-Christine Barrault, Francoise Fabian and Haydee' Politoff) in Rohmer's entire oeuvre but, frankly, I did not find the reverie all that extraordinary in itself; actually, the purposefully cheesy electronic score (redolent of the then-currently topical sci-fi pieces for the intelligentsia) over the opening credits seems to me to have been more of a successful 'departure' for Rohmer . Anyway, flanked by two particularly attractive secretaries, Verley is never too far away from the company of desirable women but always manages to resist temptation and uphold his marriage fidelity vows…that is until the long-lost titular character presents herself unheralded in his office one day and just keeps coming back! Portrayed by the tomboyish, bob-haired Zouzou (more on her fascinating life history later), Chloe' is the epitome of sheer kookiness: free-spirited and fun-loving but also passionate and volatile. A past acquaintance of Verley (she was once his best friend's girl), she had subsequently gone abroad and through several short-lived romances but, not having accomplished much of significance career-wise, comes back to her roots and, consequently, Verley. After breaking up with her current casual boyfriend (who also employs Chloe' as a nightclub hostess), she asks Verley to find her a respectable job and, gradually, they take to meeting up every afternoon during his lunch-break (without, of course, letting the wife in on these innocent escapades). Eventually, he aids Chloe' to settle into a new apartment but one day she drops the bomb: confessing to him that he has been her ideal all along and she wants to bear his son! Verley and Zouzou do get to shack up at her apartment one afternoon and a bathing Chloe' invites him to dry her with a towel...but this is as far as it goes because, by the time she has gotten into bed, Verley has sensibly rushed out of there and back into the rightful arms of his wife! To return to the real Zouzou for a minute: born Daniele Ciarlet, she came to prominence in 1961 on the Paris scene as a nightclub twist sensation and, eventually, started hobnobbing with an elite crowd that included Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones (with whom she had a two-year affair), Marianne Faithful and Jack Nicholson! Rohmer's film, her looks and enviable connections should have rightfully turned her into an international superstar but, as with so many others before and since, she witnessed her career potential waste away via drug addiction and unwise decisions. Apart from Zouzou's utterly entrancing performance, the film's trump card is its flawlessly perceptive depiction of the marital state of mind and, more importantly on a personal level, that fine line that exists between friendship and love – where somebody's platonic feelings for, say, a colleague can transform themselves with time (and virtually imperceptibly) from affectionate camaraderie to genuine love. Perhaps I ought not to be admitting this here but, the erratic nature of my film-viewing habits for the last two months or so, can be directly attributed to just such an unforeseen event happening to me…although, lamentably I might add, I play the part of Chloe' in my own private everyday morality play!!